Realignment
by agnikai58
Summary: As the second week of their stay begins Angela and Fareeha have found themselves in a fix. This arrangement was supposed to have been professional but now their relationship has moved past being platonic. Fareeha has worked as a dominatrix for a while but now she faces a new challenge. Figuring out how to work her fetish and skills into a relationship with a woman she barely knows.
1. Ideas

Authors Note: This is a sequel to a story I've previously written, Demarcations. If you haven't read that one I strongly suggest doing so. Also this is a BDSM fic just so you're aware. Enjoy.

* * *

A man with slicked back brown hair dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and a gray tie reached into his pocket. His hand withdrew a a dark colored top made of pewter. He flicked it with his fingers and dropped it onto the table. The top traced circles across the wooden surface, but the man was no longer looking at it. Instead his attention was drawn towards another man with hair that had turned to gray in his age.

A pair of young children, one boy and one girl, were looking at something in the grass outside. Their long hair was a darkening blonde, the same that his had been at their age.

"James, Philippa, look who's here." The older man said, gesturing back inside the house.

The children both turned their heads as they sat up to see what Miles was talking about. After a few seconds, they sprang to their feet and began running to the house. "Dad! Daddy!" They cried as they ran to embrace him. Cobb lifted his son into his arms while his daughter excitedly hugged her father's leg.

Behind them, forgotten in the commotion was the pewter top. It was still spinning, but now on a fixed point. The top began to wobble.

The television screen cut to black and the music stopped playing.

"That's it? That's how the movie ends!?" Angela sputtered in disbelief.

Fareeha suppressed a grin as the credits began rolling. "You don't like it?"

"That didn't explain anything! If they had shown the top fall over then we'd know they were in the real world and not a dream."

"Would they? Remember that the top wasn't Cobb's totem, it was Mal's. Him spinning it doesn't necessarily accomplish anything," Fareeha pointed out. "You have any theories on the movie? It's always fun to hear what people think after watching Inception."

Angela sank back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. "I don't think Mal actually killed herself. She was right about her and Leo being stuck in a dream after the train thing."

"What makes you say that, Angela?" Fareeha asked.

"The whole power company thing. That doesn't make sense to me. Power companies are regulated by governments and they'd never let a single company control the entire world's power supply. How would that even work? Solar, hydro, wind, petroleum, nuclear, natural gas. There's no way two companies could control all of that. Saito was lying to Cobb, but it made sense to Cobb because he's still in a dream."

Fareeha raised an eyebrow and took a sip of wine from the cup next to her before responding. "So if Cobb's being lied to then what's actually going on in the movie?"

"Cobb and Mal got lost in the dream worlds together. We saw they had gotten old, like Saito, so that means they were a few levels down. Getting run over by the train only pushes them one level up. Mal realizes it's not real so she jumps out of the window to return to the real world. Cobb is still stuck, and Mal is trying to get him out. It's why she keeps showing up, she's trying to convince him he's in a dream so he'll come back to her."

Angela paused for a moment as a thought occurred to her. "I think Saito was real, too. She must have hired him to help her. He's the one making Cobb do the mission plus he's too convenient. Him buying an entire airline just so they can be in the cabin with Fischer? Things like that take months of negotiations, yet he does it just like that. Then again, Mal started trying to talk Cobb into staying with her near the end which doesn't make sense if she's trying to get him back to the real world..."

The doctor's voice trailed off and she gave Fareeha an inscrutable sidelong look. "You picked this movie because you knew it'd drive me crazy, didn't you? I could keep going, but I'd just end going round and round in circles."

"You think so?" Fareeha's face was the look of complete innocence, and utterly unconvincing. "Inception's one of those movies that doesn't really have a real answer to what's going on. Forget talking about theories, what did you think of the rest of the movie?"

Angela drummed her fingers on her leg as she looked at the credits still scrolling by. "The actors were good, the music was good, but there was far too much CGI and green screens."

Fareeha barely suppressed a smile as she tapped on her trusty computer pad and sent them back to the main menu. "You're talking about the hallway scene aren't you?"

"That's one of them, yes," Angela replied.

Her fingers continued to push buttons on the pad as she navigated through the menus. "That scene wasn't done with CGI or green screens. It's real."

"What?" Angela asked, disbelief plain on her face.

The image on the screen changed as Fareeha found the behind the scenes clip she was looking for. Three dimensional renderings, miniature models, blueprints, and a few short interviews played before the centerpiece of the clip appeared. A series of massive metal rings connected together by struts spun in circles atop a foundation of triangular braces. In the center of those rings was the outside of the hallway in question from the movie.

Angela's jaw dropped as the photographers began talking about the difficulties involved in shooting this. Cameras fixed to the floor, another mounted on the end of a boom moved into the center of the hallway as the structure rotated around it. A voice-over from one of the actors involved in the scene began to play while he and the person he was perfoming the scene with were on the screen. The two actors were slowly walking forward, the surface beneath their feet changing from floor to wall to ceiling as the rings continued to spin.

"They actually _built_ that?" The doctor sputtered.

"Yes. Christopher Nolan was famous for using practical effects in his movies and Inception was no different. Here, look at this one." Fareeha flipped to another one of the behind the scenes clips.

The scene in question this time was from a restaurant. The set had triangular braces, but these were thinner and supported something else entirely. Atop the triangles was a grid like set of metal boxes that had been welded together to form a base. As they watched, hydraulic arms were raising and lowering causing the base to tilt upwards on one side and downwards on the other. The next shot showed an entire restaurant, albeit a non-functioning one, had been constructed on top of said base as it tilted. Further clips showed various people standing or sitting inside the structure as they tried to maintain their balance due to the room's shifting. Lamps hanging from the ceiling swayed while water obeyed the laws of gravity inside of cups fixed to various surfaces as the hydraulic arms did their job.

Angela shook her head when the clip ended. "What's next, are you going to tell me that the train was real? Wait, no, I already know what you're going to say. I won't lie, it's visually stunning, but it's hard for me to fathom people going that far for a movie."

"Directors and production crews go that far because they're trying to make quality products for their audience. They wouldn't do that if people weren't willing to pay for it," Fareeha pointed out.

"That's true I suppose," Angela said, not wanting to get into an argument about this. She picked up her own glass of wine and finished the last bit remaining in it. The doctor set the glass down and leaned towards Fareeha as she put her white hand on a bronze knee. "So... now that the movie is over, how you would feel if I said green? There's plenty of time before it starts getting late."

Fareeha blinked in surprise as she sat up straighter. Angela asking her for a session wasn't out of the ordinary. It _was_ why the Swiss doctor had hired Fareeha in the first place, and why they were all the way out here in Switzerland's countryside. The thing that caught her off guard was the hand on her leg. The nimble, almost acrobatic, fingers of a surgeon placed precisely where their owner wanted them to be.

"What, you want to go down into the basement right now?" Fareeha swallowed as she fought back the desire to spread her knees apart.

Angela nodded as her fingers moved up along Fareeha's thigh a few centimeters towards softer, more sensitive regions. "Sorry," Fareeha began with a slight breathlessness to her voice that hadn't been there before, "but not today. We did the sybian yesterday and I think we should take a few days before doing another session."

Angela pulled her hand back, crestfallen at being turned down. "May I ask why? It was intense, but I'm not _that_ sore. I could handle something light like ropework."

Fareeha reached out to grab Angela's hand in hers, partly to reassure the doctor, but mostly to keep those fingers from going even further and changing her mind. "That's not it. Well, not all of it. I'm worried about burning you out on BDSM. I'm not trying to criticize you, but we've been going faster than I was expecting. Yesterday's session is normally the kind of thing people build up to and I wasn't expecting to do it in the first week, but it's what you wanted."

The dominatrix squeezed her bottom's hand a little tighter. "We'll do something in a couple of days, I promise. Let's just take it a little slower from now on, okay?"

Angela gave a soft smile that made Fareeha's heart skip a beat and she leaned forward to kiss the Egyptian woman on the cheek. "All right, it's a deal. If we're not going to do a session, then we should do something else."

"Like what?" Fareeha cautiously asked.

"We should go get dinner. There's a couple of good restaurants nearby. Come on, it'll be fun."

Dinner. With the doctor. The doctor she had kissed the previous day to show that she didn't see Angela as just as a client anymore. This was a date. Angela was asking her out on a date. Spots appeared on Fareeha's cheeks and she just stupidly gazed at the blonde woman in silence.

Angela tilted her head to one side as she looked back at Fareeha. "So... is that a yes or a no? You're not saying anything..."

Fareeha looked down at her computer pad to see the time. Midnight was still five hours away. "Okay, when do you want to leave?"

The doctor tapped her finger on her chin. "If I remember right, they tend to close around ten out here so fifteen minutes? I should take a quick shower and put on something more presentable than this." Angela glanced down at the sweatpants and baggy shirt she had thrown on hadn't planned on leaving the house until now.

"Okay, that's a good idea."

A date. They were going on an actual date. Their first date. As Angela left the living room, Fareeha suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to scream into a pillow.


	2. Outing

Fareeha grabbed the metal lever in front of her and turned it to one side. The hot water spraying out of the shower-head trailed off and she pushed the curtain open enough to grab hold of the thick cotton towel waiting for her. She rubbed herself down for a few seconds before wrapping it around her body and stepping out of the shower.

She had showered that morning and hadn't done anything that would make her need another since, so this was a bit of a waste under ordinary circumstances. However, this particular situation was anything but. Fareeha rubbed her hand on the mirror, cleared out a circular patch and leaned forward to get a better look at her face. There weren't any zits or hairs that needed plucking, but there was a little bit of soap still clinging to one cheek. She wiped it away and headed out of the shower to her own room.

Fareeha slid the closet door to one side and let out a sigh as she stared at its contents. Some of the clothes were dangling from hangers while others were neatly folded and stacked onto a shelf up above. There was no shortage of options to pick from since she had brought enough clothes to last her a full month, but that wasn't the problem.

When she had been packing for this affair, her focus had been strictly utilitarian. Fareeha might have been going further than she had for any of her other clients, but this was still a professional arrangement and one she was being paid for, no less. All of her clothes had been chosen for her ability to work in them, not for how they looked. Jeans, shorts, tee shirts, a couple of sweaters since it was winter, and some more specialized fetish-wear just in case. No dresses or skirts or anything that looked remotely fashionable. She muttered wordlessly to herself and grabbed the least faded pair of blue jeans from the closet and a black sweater to go with it.

Angela had said to leave in fifteen minutes, but Fareeha was waiting in the living room another five minutes once those were up. "Sorry I took so long."

Fareeha looked up at the sound of Angela's voice and she had to make a conscious effort to keep her jaw from dropping. The doctor hadn't just taken a quick shower to clean up, she had done much more than that. Her hair had clearly just been washed, dried, brushed and was now dangling nearly to her shoulder blades. A white shirt with a dipping neckline sat loosely on her shoulders and a pale blue skirt with stripes of a darker blue hung down to the middle of her ankles. The doctor had even taken the time to do something she hadn't bothered with since getting here. Makeup. Foundation, concealer, powder, bronzer, eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick with gloss on top of it. Angela had put all of it on while Fareeha had only thought to bring a small tube of chapstick with her when coming here.

It wasn't that obvious an effect and Fareeha probably wouldn't even have noticed under different circumstances. They had been in close proximity to each other for the past week and she had gotten used to the doctor sans makeup. Now that it had been applied, the doctor's blue eyes seemed sharper, her smile brighter and her skin actually looked softer than before.

"You look really nice, Angela." Fareeha said, feeling more than a little brutish in comparison as she stood up from the couch. Jeans and a sweater against all that.

"Thanks. Shall we?" Angela asked.

The doctor's silver Aston Martin was waiting for them, tinted windows and all, in the garage. Fareeha opened the near side door and got in while Angela made her way around the vehicle before joining her. Once Angela had punched in their destination, Fareeha looked over. "How did you do all of that so fast? It can take hours just for my hair to dry."

"Lots of practice." Angela said with a faint smile. "Once word began to spread about the nano-bots, a lot of TV shows and websites wanted to interview me. I was still working at the hospital and I didn't have a lot of free time to make myself look presentable so I ended up getting pretty good at putting makeup on in a hurry."

"Well, you look nice, Angela."

The doctor may have put makeup on her face for this date, but her blush was still visible through it. She didn't reply however, instead opting to look out her window at the dark fields rolling past them. After a few minutes, the car slowed and turned onto a road leading them to one of the towns in the nearby area. Geneva wasn't anywhere close to being a large city by international standards, but compared to this place it might as well be Tokyo or Shanghai. It only took them a minute more to arrive at their destination after passing within city limits.

White windows with red shutters looked out from a chocolate colored building made of logs that bore snow atop its peaked roof. A few trucks and beat up looking cars made during a previous decade were already parked out front so Angela's luxury sports car positioned itself near the edge of the parking lot. As she got out of the car, Fareeha found herself thankful that she had put a sweater on. It wasn't enough to completely ward off the cold, but it took a bit of the bite off at least. Angela, on the other hand, was rubbing her bare arms as soon as she closed her door and was quickly hurrying towards the front entrance.

The inside of the logs hadn't been painted like the outside had been. Instead, their natural patterns of yellowish grains and swirls lent themselves to a more rustic vibe than Fareeha was accustomed to. Globe shaped lamps hung from the ceiling above square wooden tables and a row of booths that lined one wall. Directly in front of the door was a sign, but the words on it were past Fareeha's grasp of foreign languages. Angela, on the other hand, had no trouble reading what it said.

"Come on, we're supposed to seat ourselves." The doctor stated. She headed deeper into the restaurant towards a booth in the far corner, but not without drawing the attention of the waiter. By the time Fareeha had sat herself on the other side of the booth from Angela, a man was there with a pair of menus in hand. Fareeha knew a little bit of German from the years she had spent in Geneva, but the ensuing conversation between him and Angela was too quick for her to follow whatsoever. "I asked him to bring us some water. Is that alright with you, Fareeha?"

"That's fine." Fareeha said as she frowned at the menu the man had given her before heading off, flipping it over to look at the back. Just like the sign, it was almost totally incomprehensible. There were a couple of words that she recognized, but aside from those the only things she understood were the prices. She looked up at Angela. "I can't read this... little help?"

"Huh? Oh right, it's all in German. Hang on." Angela got up from her side of the booth and moved to join Fareeha's side of the table. "Scoot over, please."

Fareeha pushed herself closer to the wall and Angela sat down, trapping Fareeha in place. As the doctor set her menu down and leaned in, Fareeha noticed there was a gentle scent in the air now that Angela was so close. Sandalwood perfume. For a fleeting moment, she felt the urge to lean in herself to get a better whiff, but Angela's next words stopped that unrefined impulse.

"Is there something you're in the mood for, Fareeha? If I know what you want to eat then I could find something similar for you."

Fareeha stared at the small black letters printed on the menu for a moment. If she was back in Geneva then there would have been multiple offerings meant to take advantage of the large number of expats living there. As it was, she had no idea what she actually felt like eating and asking Angela to read the menu off to her was out of the question. "How about you decide what you want and I'll get the same thing." Fareeha said as she slid her menu towards the end of the table.

As if on cue their waiter appeared with two glasses of water, each with a straw in it, in hand. He set them down and said something to which Angela replied. A minute later and he was sweeping the menus off the table and heading off towards the kitchen. "So... what did we order?" Fareeha asked.

"I got us a couple of things." Angela started tapping her fingers as she rattled off the dishes she had ordered as well as their ingredients. "Kalberwurst is a sausage made with veal, pork, and milk. Some people grind up crackers, but not this place. There's some spices in it too, but I'm not sure what they are. Then we have some capuns. They leave beef out to dry then put it in spatzle, those are egg noodles, before wrapping it in chard leaves and pouring gravy on it then grating cheese on top of that. For dessert, I ordered a bundner nusstorte. That's a pastry filled with cream, walnuts, some sugar, and a bit of honey."

Fareeha started to open her mouth then stopped. Angela likely hadn't meant to do it, but she had gone through their upcoming meal so methodically that Fareeha couldn't think of anything to say in response. Seconds of silence turned into a minute and then another as they just sat there without speaking. From time to time one of them would give the other a sidelong glance only to look away just on the verge of them actually making eye contact.

The first time Fareeha had seen Angela Ziegler's face had been one of those interviews mentioned earlier. Those nano-bots of hers had just concluded human trials in Switzerland and the Swiss doctor's achievement, and portrait, had been plastered over the front page of a hundred different websites from just as many countries. The second time had been after the media furor had died down. Angela, by her own admission, had grown frustrated over the way people had started to treat her and that frustration had pushed herself to make a leap that had ended with her declaring herself a slut while handcuffed. Their third meeting had led the two of them to the eastern regions of Switzerland where the past week, including the kiss from yesterday, had transpired. A kiss that had said that her feelings towards Angela weren't platonic anymore. It wasn't until this moment, however, that Fareeha realized just how little the two of them actually knew about each other.

Angela drummed her fingers on the table and fidgeted before breaking the silence. "This is awkward, isn't it?"

Fareeha let out a dry chuckle and shook her head a little. "Yeah it is. I suppose that's what happens when you start a relationship completely backwards. People usually go on dates before getting to where ours began. I'll admit I'm pretty rusty when it comes to dating for what it's worth."

The doctor picked up her glass and took a drink before responding. "You and me both. I haven't been on a good date since I graduated from university."

Fareeha frowned as she rubbed at her chin. "Didn't you say something about people chasing you during our first meeting? None of those were any good?"

"Nope, not a one." Angela grimaced at the memory, but didn't let it stop her. "After all the media attention, I started having to deal with a bunch of gold diggers or people who saw sleeping with me as some sort of trophy. Assholes. Before that I was working four tens in the emergency room, longer if there was a transplant scheduled. Don't get me wrong. the work is rewarding but it's draining. Emotionally. Strokes, cardiac arrests, burns, gunshots, stabbings. When you spend all day dealing with that, you just want to go home and decompress, not deal with all the hassles of trying to find a date."

Angela shook her head and forced something of a smile onto her face. "Ah, I'm sorry. This is our first date and all and here I am whining about the past."

"No, no it's fine." Fareeha quickly said, hoping to reassure the other woman. "I've had the same problem myself. I'm not going to try and say what I did was as stressful as working in the emergency room but it could be pretty draining at times."

"Well you mostly worked with men so I would expect it to be draining." Angela said with an impish twinkle in her eye.

Fareeha had just taken a sip, but the water hadn't yet begun to make its way down her throat and she had to clamp her lips together while clapping a hand over her mouth to avoid spraying water all over the table. She swallowed and grimaced. "Oh my god, I didn't mean like that."

"I know, you just set it up so well that I couldn't resist. Was it just your job that gave you problems or were there other factors?"

Fareeha put her hands on the table and stood up just enough so she could see the other booths and tables in the restaurant. There weren't many people here and they were sitting on the far side of the room, but even so she still lowered her voice to be on the safe side as she sat back down. "Dating sucks in general, but when you add in my... interests it gets a lotharder. Plus it's my __job__ so when a date asks me what I do for a living… lying about it doesn't work and the truth pretty much always scared people off. A few were afraid of diseases, but a couple of people gave it a try but decided it wasn't for them and broke things off."

Angela's face slowly dropped as Fareeha's words sank in. "I hadn't thought of that. You're right, that does make things harder. Look on the bright side though. We've found each other so that's something." Fareeha raised an eyebrow and Angela hastily started trying to explain herself. "I know we haven't known each other very long, but there's __something__ here. I don't even know where this will go but I want to find out."

"Are you sure about that? Is that 'something' actually feelings for me or is it what I'm doing for you, Angela? Our shared interest has a way of playing with people's emotions. If you're actually serious about this then I'm not going to say no, but I want to be sure this is real first."

Angela slowly stirred the water in her glass with the straw before responding. "I won't lie. What you've done so far for me has been amazing and without it I never would have met you. As for my feelings, those __are__ real. I'm not going to say that I'm in love with you, but I do like you and I want to give us a chance."

Just as Fareeha started to reply, the waiter returned with a tray in his hands and the food they had ordered. He set the tray down on the end of the table and began unloading the dishes in front of them before leaving. After he had left, Fareeha looked down at her food much too intently. "All right then."

"Okay." Angela replied, an amused look on her face. She started to pick up a fork then set it down and turned towards Fareeha. "Do you want to get out of here?"

"What? We just got our food and now you want to leave?" Fareeha asked, flabbergasted by the suggestion.

"Yeah. We can talk about anything we want at home." Angela reached down to her side and slid her fingers beneath a seam that Fareeha hadn't noticed until now. When her hand came out, an electronic fob was in it. "I'll go ask the waiter to box everything up and settle the bill. Do you mind getting the car started and turning on the heat?"

Fareeha waited until Angela began making a beeline towards the waiter at the far end of the room before reluctantly trudging outside. It was already too cold for her and a light pattering of snow was falling from the gray sky above. She pressed the fob's button and the doors clunked as they unlocked themselves. Fareeha opened the door furthest from the restaurant and closed it behind her. She leaned forward and started tapping on the dashboard console. It took her a bit to navigate through the unfamiliar menus, but before long the vents were beginning to blow hot air into the vehicle's cold interior.

After a couple of minutes Angela emerged from the restaurant with styrofoam containers wrapped in a plastic bag. The snow had now thickened into a flurry of white and the doctor was hurrying as quickly as she safely could across the parking lot. By the time the doctor made it to the car, her hair was whiter than it was blonde. Angela opened the door and hurriedly climbed in then set the food down in the rear seats before shutting her door. "Brrr, I should have brought a jacket."

Angela looked over at the other car's occupant for a moment and then she was climbing out of her seat and over onto Fareeha's lap. Fareeha opened her mouth to speak, but Angela stopped her with a single finger. Angela curled her legs to the side and she leaned against Fareeha's shoulder while putting one hand on a bronze cheek and turning it to the side. A pair of lips that seemed too gentle to be real pressed themselves against Fareeha's mouth.

All she could smell was sandalwood, the only thing she could see was hair covered in melting snow, soft parts were pressing into her body, and Fareeha couldn't tell if it was the vents or if it something else that was warming her body. One of her hands found its way onto a curved hip while the other entangled itself in those golden locks as the kiss led into a second and then a third. Fareeha's lower hand moved to the hem of Angela's skirt and beneath it to the bare flesh it concealed.

And just like that Angela was pulling away. A soft groan, Fareeha didn't know which of them had made it, hung in the car's interior for a moment. Angela's face was red again, but her voice was only a little shaky as she spoke. "You seem to be fond of kisses so there's one of mine to make sure you know I'm serious about giving us a chance."

As the doctor made her way back to her seat, Fareeha just stared at the tinted windshield and the snow piling up on it. It was just as well that she didn't know what to say, because if she had tried the only thing coming out would have been pure gibberish.

Angela pressed on her dashboard's console and the car backed up before heading towards the road and back to the doctor's house.


	3. Details

Fareeha grabbed the bag of styrofoam containers before getting out of the car. The garage in Angela's house wasn't as cold as it was outside, but she was still hurrying to get into the house where there was warm air. Angela, however, was closer and moving even faster than Fareeha so she made it inside first. Fareeha sat the bag down on the kitchen counter before turning to look at Angela. "So why did you want to come back here? That place seemed like it was a good a restaurant."

Angela started talking with her back to Fareeha as she was opening one of the kitchen cupboards. "It is, but our conversation was making me a little paranoid. I know we were skirting around saying bondage or BDSM, but it's not something I'm comfortable talking about in public." The doctor pulled out a pair of plates before opening a drawer near her waist and grabbing some silverware. "I know bringing you back here during our first date is a bad move, but we can speak freely here." Angela handed one of the plates along with a fork and knife to Fareeha before opening the bag. She pulled the containers out and set them down on the counter before lifting the top of one. "Oh, this one's the nusstorte. The kalberwurst should be in that one then." Angela pointed her fork at the one in the middle.

Fareeha opened up the last container and irritably scooped some of the capuns onto her plate. "So I'm guessing I know what you want to talk about, but I'm a little surprised you relocated our date for this."

The doctor set her plate and silverware next to the containers of food. She turned towards the other woman and took Fareeha's hands in hers. "That's only part of it. I have this sexy, beautiful, and amazing woman staying with me here. You've done some incredible things for me so far but there's more to you than just being a dominatrix. I know you like movies, but I want to know more than that." She turned her head to one side, her cheeks flushing. "Who _is_ Fareeha Amari?"

Fareeha let her hands linger in Angela's fingers for a moment before gently pulling away and picking her fork up and stabbing it into one of the kalberwurst sausages. "Okay... what do you want to know?"

"Well… why do you like movies so much?" Angela asked as she began serving herself.

In the meantime Fareeha had pulled out a chair and sat at the nearby table. "There's always been something kinda romantic about seeing a movie in a theater to me. A giant silver screen in a large dark room, speakers you can feel in your chest, people all around you to see the same thing. My mother took me to a movie once when I was young and ever since then I've been hooked. As I got older I started learning more about how they were made and what not. It's been a lifelong hobby of mine."

Angela picked her plate up and moved to sit on the other side of the table from Fareeha. "So what's a fact about movies that most people don't know?" She asked before taking a bite.

"A little known fact...okay, here's one. Almost all of the sounds you hear in a movie aren't recorded during filming. Dialogue is recorded during shooting, but everything else is typically added during post production." Fareeha scooped some of the capun into her mouth and waited until she had finished chewing and swallowing it before continuing. "Sound designers do effects like monster roars or gunshots, but ambient sounds are done by foley artists."

"Ambient sounds?" asked Angela with a raised eyebrow.

"Footsteps are the most common one. A lot of takes are shot on green screens, but the scene itself could be on a mountain or a beach or even just walking down some sidewalk in a city. All of those sound different so the foley artist has to do different things for each locations." Fareeha explained.

Angela frowned down at her plate for a moment. "So the foley artist... watches the actors walking around and tries to make their footstep sounds for them?"

"Not quite. After filming is done they send the video to the foley artist so they work on it. For footsteps the artist uses what's called a foley pit. It's basically a square of different materials. Tile, gravel, concrete, grass, hay, whatever they need for a particular scene. The hard part is timing though. Everyone has a different stride and they have to time the sounds they make to each actor's footsteps."

"Huh. I never knew that was a thing." Angela admitted. "I guess things like that are the reason movies cost so much to make. I have a question though. Have you ever considered getting involved with making movies? I don't know what you'd want to do, but you know an awful lot about the business and everything."

Fareeha just slowly shook her head and took a drink of water. "No. Don't get me wrong, I love movies, but getting involved with production? I'll pass. The industry is incredibly competitive in pretty much every aspect. There's an old joke that kinda sums it up. Two people are talking at a party and one of them says that he's an actor and the other person asks what restaurant he works at. So there's that and if I was working in the industry then it'd be a job and I'd rather keep it as a hobby I can do for fun."

"I can understand that." The doctor said as she nervously rotated her fork between her fingers. "But if that's your approach to things then how did you become a dominatrix if you don't mind me asking? Watching porn is how I came across it. Is that how you discovered bondage as well?"

A dry chuckle came from the dominatrix and she bemusedly shook her head at the memories the doctor's question had dredged up. "Ironically enough it came from a movie. It wasn't long after I had gotten my first period. I was at the theater, I don't even remember the name of the movie anymore, but there was a scene in it that I've never forgotten. It wasn't sexual, at least it wasn't supposed to be. The main character had just gotten captured by the people he was fighting and they had tied him to a chair and taped his mouth shut. When I saw him restrained like that I was so turned on that I had to leave the theater and hide in the bathroom until my cheeks weren't so red. I was still just a teenager so I couldn't exactly act on what that had awakened in me. I did learn how to cover my tracks on a computer so my mother never knew I was watching bondage porn during those years. It wasn't until my early twenties that I started going to clubs. One thing led to another and I ended up doing it for a living which is where you found me."

Fareeha closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them there was a markedly hungering look in her eyes, one that made Angela suddenly shiver knowing she was the cause. "So if our relationship has changed then I think the way we handle bondage could use an update as well. Stand up." Angela hesitantly rose from her chair, smoothing out her skirt as she did so, not quite sure what was about to happen. Fareeha stood as well, but she was kneeling in front of the doctor within seconds. "Lift up your skirt."

Angela's hands reached down at once to grab bunches of the fabric in both hands and she pulled upwards until the gray briefs she was wearing were visible. Fareeha ran her tongue along her upper lip and she was grabbing the garment in her hands and pulling it down to the doctor's ankles. An olive hand lifted one foot then the other off the ground and the briefs disappeared into one of Fareeha's back pockets. "I'm making a rule for you. From now on you aren't allowed to wear underwear unless I say you can. You can still wear bras, but nothing down here. How does that sound?"

Neither of them had said green, the word that they had used to start all of their previous sessions and Fareeha had slipped into her domme voice, but Angela found she didn't mind in this case. She was even still holding her skirt up and her nether regions were exposed as a result. "Yes mistress."

Fareeha slowly leaned forward, her lips drawing ever close towards Angela's groin. The doctor closed her eyes, anticipating, welcoming what came next. At the last second Fareeha turned her head to the side and gently pressed her lips to one thigh. "All right then. Remember, I will be checking and I'll have to teach you a lesson if you disobey me."

Fareeha rose back to her feet and the predatory look was suddenly gone. "Well then. I don't know about you but I'm still hungry so I won't be talking much until I fix that."

A soft smile crossed Angela's lips as she let the skirt fall back down to cover her now bare pelvis. "I know what you mean." She sat back down at the table and picked up her fork. At least she could satiate one of her appetites tonight.

The other would have to wait until tomorrow or the day after that.


	4. Fiasco

A slender stream of hot water poured from the sink's faucet onto the soapy plate Fareeha was holding with one hand. In the other was a blue sponge that she was using to scrub away the residue left over from her breakfast that morning. After a moment she set the sponge aside and rotated the plate beneath the water, rinsing soap off the dish and her fingers as well. Fareeha placed the dish in the drying rack adjacent to the sink and started to reach for her fork when a pair of pale arms wrapped themselves around her waist.

Angela pressed herself into Fareeha's back and she dropped one cheek onto the taller woman's shoulder. "Good morning." Angela said in a cheery voice.

Fareeha turned the faucet off before placing her wet hands on top of the doctor's. "Good morning. I think this is the first time I've gotten up before you did since I got here."

Angela leaned more of her weight on Fareeha as she huffed and shook her head. "I've been on the phone for the last thirty minutes with my property management company. They're supposed to look after the place for me, but my shower didn't have any hot water when I got here. If they weren't checking the faucets then they could have missed other stuff too so I called to complain. Got a refund for a month and they agreed to send someone over to check everything. So we have to hide all your toys so their person doesn't find it. Do you have space in your closet? Your bedroom is the one place that they don't have a reason to check so they'll be out of the way in there."

"We could do that, but we'll have to move them back down to the bunker later. I know your neighbors are pretty far away, but I'd feel more comfortable doing sessions down there, especially if I know it's going to be a noisy one." Fareeha stated, a small grin appearing near the end of her explanation.

The blush of the doctor's cheeks may have been hidden from Fareeha's view, but there was no disguising the higher pitch of Angela's voice. "That's fine, I'll help you move them of course. One more thing, are you interested in doing the walk-around with me? I'll translate if I need to."

Fareeha turned around until she was facing Angela and raised her arms so she could clasp her hands behind the blonde's neck. "I would just slow you down if you had to translate everything for me. I'll just hide in my room and watch cat videos until you're done." She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Angela's forehead. "But thank you for offering."

Most of her boxes were actually pretty light considering the amount of stuff in them. Even the one with the sybian in it wasn't too bad. The thing that made moving them tedious was going up the stairs from the basement to the first floor, down a hallway, then up a second flight of stairs to where Fareeha's temporary closet was waiting. What made it even worse was the fact they were going to be moving them back down to the bunker before the day was done.

Once all of the boxes had been put away in Fareeha's closet Angela headed downstairs to wait for the person being sent to do this walk-around. Fareeha closed her bedroom door and flopped down on her bed, computer pad in hand. She stuck her earbuds in and opened her internet browser. Watching videos of cats was hardly the most productive thing she could be doing, but it was as good a way of passing the time as any. A couple of minutes later and a chime came from the house's first floor. Fareeha looked up for a moment before returning her attention to her pad. Angela would let her know when the representative was gone.

From time to time she could hear water flowing through the pipes in the house and at one point she could hear Angela and the voice of another woman speaking German as they walked past her doorway. Around an hour later there was a knock on Fareeha's door. Angela's voice, slightly muffled, came through. "She's gone now. May I come in?"

Fareeha closed the browser on her window and pulled her earbuds out before getting up off the bed. She crossed the room in a few strides and pulled the door open. She gestured towards the room with one hand. "Come on in. How'd it go, Angela?"

"Pretty good actually. Turns out the mixing valve was the only thing they had missed. They should have spotted it when they tested the showers last time, but they only checked the cold water, not the hot."

"Mmm, that's good." Fareeha said as she looked at Angela's outfit. The doctor had been wearing pajamas earlier in the kitchen, but she had changed since then. Her top was a plain red tee shirt and Angela was wearing tan pants beneath them, but that wasn't what Fareeha was interested in at the moment. She shut the door and locked it behind her. Angela gave her a questioning look as Fareeha closed the distance between them. Fareeha slid her arms around Angela's waist as she took up a position behind the doctor. "I think it's time we checked to see if you're following the rule I gave you yesterday."

Angela's breath caught in her throat as Fareeha pulled their bodies together and her heart began to beat faster as one of those hands flattened against her stomach. It slowly descended lower and lower, pausing at the top of her pants but she didn't pull away, instead opting to keep still. After waiting a few seconds longer those fingers were pushing into her pants and then they stopped.

"My, my, my." Fareeha said, her voice split between amusement and feigned outrage. "You couldn't even go a full day without disobeying me could you?" She pulled her hand out and lightly pushed the doctor towards her bed. "We'll just have to do something about this won't we?"

Once they got to the side of the bed Fareeha pressed forward on Angela's shoulders so she leaned forward, her outstretched hands on the bed. Fareeha lowered her hands to the front of Angela's pants. One hand grabbed the zipper and pulled it down while the other deftly undid the button above it. Angela let out a quiet murmur as her pants were pulled down to her ankles and off her feet, revealing a pair of boxer briefs, an article of clothing she had been ordered not to wear. A moment later and Fareeha was holding the briefs in her hand as she stood back up. She opened them up as she inspected the interior of the black garment. "Hmm. Nice and clean, this will do nicely. Take off your shirt and bra if you're wearing one. You can leave your socks on."

Angela pulled her shirt off and threw it onto the bed. Seconds later her bra joined it and Angela put her hands back on the mattress as she leaned forward again. Then without any warning her vision was suddenly obscured by dark cloth pulled over her head. The underwear that had so recently been confiscated by her mistress. "Since you wanted to wear these, even though I told you not to, I'll let you do just that, Angela."

Fareeha grabbed the blankets on her bed and pulled them off, throwing them to the floor so only a white sheet and her computer tablet remained. She weakly slapped one bare cheek in front of her. "Get up there." Fareeha barked, though she still helped the other woman blindly clamber onto the bed. "Now then, how should I punish you for breaking the rule I gave you yesterday? All my boxes are up here so I have, oh so _many_ choices..."

Without waiting for a response Fareeha made her way into the closet where the aforementioned boxes were. She tapped her chin for a moment before opening one, then another, and pulling out an item from each. On her way back into the bedroom Fareeha stopped short at the view in front of her. That black article of clothing may have been obscuring Angela's vision, but that hadn't stopped her from pointing her feet towards the closet, and spreading her bent knees apart.

Her fingers started to slacken and she very nearly dropped the items in her hands before shaking her head and taking a deep breath to try and steady her nerves. Fareeha climbed up onto the bed and set one item down. She pulled a cap off the other and leaned forward with the marker.

The soft tip of the marker pressed against the skin of Angela's stomach and began to move as it drew some sort of shape and then words above it. She suppressed a shiver and remained still as Fareeha continued to write on her. Above her breasts, the insides of her thighs then Fareeha was rolling her over so that she was lying face down. A much longer word than the others going from the base of her neck all the way to the small of her back and then a shorter one beneath it. That was the last of it. "I could write something on your ass, but I have other plans for it. Face down, ass up." Fareeha said.

Angela pulled her knees forward and spread them wider for support as she presented her rear end as ordered. A thin cylindrical object gently rapped against the sole of one foot, making her squirm, then the other. She giggled despite herself and turned her head to one side. "I thought you were going to punish me. That doesn't hurt at all."

Fareeha bemusedly shook her head as she started tapping the rattan cane against Angela's calves. "It doesn't hurt yet, but it will." Fareeha promised. The cane moved to the outside of the doctor's legs as it continued to climb upwards with taps as mild as the first. When it finally reached Angela's rear Fareeha trailed the tip up and down one cheek then the other before pulling away.

The first strike was harder than the taps had been, but not enough to bruise flesh. Angela still rocked forward on her knees, a gasp coming from her as the cane's impact left her cheek stinging. She slowly lowered herself back into position and waited. Just as the sensation from the first was beginning to fade Fareeha struck again, but on the other cheek this time. The rhythm soon settled into a pattern. Strike, waiting a few seconds for the mild sting to lose its edge before hitting the opposite side. With her eyes covered there wasn't any way for Angela to check the time but it had to have been several minutes before the blows stopped. A moment passed and then Fareeha was rolling her over to lie on her back once again and shortly after that the briefs came off her face and she could see once again.

"So..." Fareeha began as she turned the computer pad around in her hands so Angela could see the screen, "which of these pictures should I post to let everyone know how obedient you are?"

Angela sat up, half-expecting her bottom to be sore but quickly finding out that wasn't the case, as she took the pad. Thumbnails of pictures taken just now filled the screen and she tapped on the first one. Her face was covered by the underwear but the rest of her was plainly visible as was the black text Fareeha had written by her breasts. 'Tramp.' She scrolled to the next one. An arrow pointing down towards her crotch. 'Insert here.' On her thighs were more. 'Pussy – free. Anal – three francs.' Lastly was the message scrawled in large letters on her back. 'Disobedient Slut.'

Her face was obscured so no one could identify her from these pictures but Angela could easily recognize her naked body. Even so, she didn't recognize the person in these images. Whoever these things were written on... it wasn't her. That pale bottom and the hint of redness marring its cheeks belonged to someone else. A stranger with the same breasts, the same legs and fingers and everything. This wasn't her, this wasn't her life... and yet it was. The pad fell from Angela's fingers and her lips quivered as tears began running down her cheeks and she began to sob.

Fareeha's arms were around Angela at once and she was pulling the doctor close. Angela pressed her forehead into her mistress's shoulder as she began to blubber while her body shook uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Angela sputtered between sobs.

Fareeha closed her eyes and she dropped her cheek against Angela's head. "No... you don't have anything to be sorry about. I'm the one who screwed up here. I've been working as a dominatrix for years and the second I end up in a relationship all of my experience goes right out the window. I shouldn't have taken your underwear like I did, I should have discussed this scene ahead of time, I didn't ask your permission to take pictures. This isn't your fault. It's mine."

Angela sniffled and pulled her head back far enough for her to wipe some of the tears from her cheeks. "Now that's not fair. I could have used my safe word but I didn't. I liked what you were doing... but when I saw those pictures you took... I don't know. Something just felt horribly wrong and I don't even know why. We've already done stuff like this before so I don't know why this time was different."

"Well you were fine until you looked at the pictures and saw what I had written on you." Fareeha pointed out. "Maybe having things like that written down is what bothered you but that's just me guessing. If you want me to help you figure out then I will, but you know yourself better than I do. Also I won't post those online if you don't want me to."

Fareeha let go of Angela with one arm and reached down to pick the stray piece of underwear up along with the other pieces of Angela's outfit. "Let's get you cleaned up then you can put these on again if you want if you want. I have some chocolate bars downstairs if you need them afterwards."

Angela hesitantly took her clothes back from Fareeha. "You have chocolate? Where? I thought I had raided your stash already."

Fareeha politely smiled and shook her head. "Nope. I went out and got more at the store when I realized you were sneaking some. I hid these ones to make sure I had some for our sessions."

The doctor eyed Fareeha with mock suspicion for a moment, her damp cheeks ruining the effect, as she got up from the bed. "You think I won't be able to find them? This is my house after all and I have a lot of free time to look."

"You're welcome to try." Fareeha said as she held a hand out to the blonde woman. Angela gratefully took it and the two headed out into the hallway, their hands dangling between them.


	5. Experiment

They may have been holding hands when leaving Fareeha's room, but it only lasted a few short meters. As soon as they reached the door to the master bedroom Angela pulled her fingers free to open the door since her other hand was occupied with holding her clothing. The doctor headed inside and immediately made a beeline through her room. It wasn't until she had gotten into her bathroom that she realized she wasn't alone. Angela turned towards the woman plodding along behind her and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing, Fareeha?"

Fareeha came to an abrupt halt and looked down at the ground as she rubbed one of her arms. "I'm keeping an eye on you. I screwed up our session, but I don't plan on messing up the aftercare as well. You're stuck with me until I'm sure that you're okay."

"Is that so..." Angela's eyes flicked to one side as her voice trailed off.

Fareeha slowly turned her head to follow the direction of Angela's gaze only to find the doctor was looking at the tub. Her cheeks began to heat up as she recalled the last time she had been in this room. Angela had been wearing nothing but blue ropes as she sat in that tub, Fareeha opposite her on the tub's other side. The doctor's white skin was flushing red, her lips parted as her fingers teased her folds until one of them pushed inside until only its third knuckle was visible.

"If I'm stuck with you then maybe we should pick up where we left off from last time." Angela said, her lips spreading into an impish grin.

"Well we do have to clean that writing off so maybe it's time for your sponge bath." Fareeha retorted as she folded her arms. "I'm not a nurse but I'm pretty sure I can figure something out _Doctor_ Ziegler."

"All right, all right," Angela said while holding her hands up in surrender "I'll just go take a shower then." She dropped her head to look down at her stomach. "This will come off right? You didn't use permanent marker did you?"

"No, the markers I use are made for writing on skin. The website I buy from advertises them for sports and stuff but they work just as well for bondage. You can clean it off with soap and water." Fareeha explained as she took a seat on the edge of the ledge surrounding the tub.

Angela nodded and flicked a switch near the bathroom door to turn on the bathroom's exhaust fan. She set her clothes down by the sink before heading to the shower. The doctor paused before stepping inside and looked over at Fareeha. "You could join me if you want." Angela hopefully offered but Fareeha merely shook her head.

A few minutes later and Angela was stepping out of the shower. The ink was gone but Fareeha could see narrow streaks of a slightly reddish hue marring the doctor's bottom. Angela grabbed a fluffy white cotton towel and began drying herself off. Once she had finished she wrapped the towel around herself then walked over to sit down on Fareeha's lap without so much as a wince. Fareeha looked down at their legs before returning her gaze to the doctor's face. "Does sitting hurt at all, Angela? I wasn't trying to hit you very hard but we haven't done canes before so I want to be sure I didn't use too much force."

The blonde woman just shook her head as she leaned into Fareeha. "I'm a little sore, but it's not bad at all. The cane did sting, but in a good way. I might bruise a little, but nothing more than that and I'm willing to let you use canes on me again. I have a question though. How did you know I was bothered by being written on?"

Fareeha shrugged her shoulders as one hand idly began to run up and down the doctor's back. "Educated guess I suppose. What we did today was similar to our first session where we met. We did impact play that time but I used a belt instead of a cane. There was some humiliation too since I was telling you that you were a slut and I made you call yourself a slut as well but that was all verbal. You're a really brilliant woman so maybe the fact that I wrote it down this time was what bothered you. I _am_ just guessing though and I don't want to tell you how you feel."

Angela was silent for a moment before she brushed her lips against the crown of Fareeha's head and stood up. "I appreciate that but I think you might be right. Come on, we're not done with aftercare just yet."

The doctor grabbed Fareeha's hand and pulled her up to her feet, much to the other woman's surprise. "Okay. Do you want me to go get some of my chocolate bars then?"

"Nope. I want to try something else for recovering instead. Follow me." Without waiting for an answer Angela was on the move, heading back into her bedroom and towards the master closet. She pulled the closet doors open and reached up to the top shelf to pull out a pair of cylinders, one green and one blue. Angela tucked them under one arm and turned to look at Fareeha. "How flexible are those jeans?" The doctor asked.

Fareeha glanced down at the piece of clothing in question then back up at Angela with a shrug. "They're okay I guess. Why?"

Angela set both of the cylinders down on the ground and unrolled the green one. The mat was over two meters in length and perhaps two thirds of a meter wide. Angela did the same with the other before turning back to her closet. "Well if we're going to do yoga then you need something more flexible than a pair of jeans. They're good for every day stuff but jean crotches are usually too restricting for yoga."

"Yoga?" Fareeha asked in disbelief.

"Yep. It's something I started doing to deal with getting stressed out at the hospital. Have you ever tried it, Fareeha?" Fareeha shook her head and Angela turned back towards her closet to pull out a pair of black leggings then tossed them to Fareeha. "Here we go. Try these on."

Fareeha caught the garment and stared at it wordlessly. Yoga. There were some practitioners who advocated yoga as a way of increasing flexibility for bondage sessions, but she had never tried it, let alone as a form of aftercare. If it had solely been her decision then she would have stuck to the methods that had been effective for her in the past, but it wasn't just her decision. Angela might be her bottom, but she had an equal say in how they handled their sessions. The more pressing concern was how these pants would fit her. Fareeha turned and disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Angela lifted an eyebrow and shook her head in amusement at the dominatrix's sudden bashfulness. Several seconds later and Fareeha returned to the bedroom.

As her mistress approached the yoga mats Angela whistled softly at the sight. They fit Angela just fine, but they way they snugly clung to Fareeha's wider hips seemed almost provocative, not that the doctor was going to complain. Fareeha stopped moving next to one of the mats and looked down at it dubiously. "I don't know any poses or whatever they're called."

Angela simply smiled as she begin to unwind the towel around her and casually tossed it aside, seemingly oblivious to the fact she was now naked. "That's fine. Just watch me and try to do what I'm doing. I'll correct you if I see something wrong."

Fareeha rubbed at the back of her neck as she kept an eye on the doctor while trying to figure out if she had been set up. Angela had made a joke about picking up where they had left off earlier and now the doctor was telling Fareeha to watch her do a yoga pose. While wearing her birthday suit no less.

Angela stepped onto the green mat as she reached up into the air and pressed her palms against each other while keeping her back straight and feet together. Her chest rose and fell as she deeply inhaled and exhaled several before turning her head towards Fareeha. "So this is Mountain. Give it a try." Angela urged.

Fareeha held back a grimace as she stepped one sock covered foot then the other onto the remaining mat. She lifted her arms like Angela had, feeling more than a little foolish in the process and stood there with her arms in the air. There was a bit of pressure on her shoulders, but nothing she would have considered a form of stretching.

"Sorry I didn't explain what you're supposed to do next. I guess it's just second nature to me by now. Press down with your legs, squeeze your abs and pull your shoulders down while keeping your hands up if you can then hold it for five breaths or so." Angela said.

Fareeha tensed her muscles like Angela had said and took a few breaths before shaking her head. "I don't feel any different. That didn't seem to do much for me."

"That's all right, Fareeha. Even basic yoga poses can be a bit tricky when you're doing them for the first time. Let's do a different one." Angela brought her hands up to just in front of her chest and pushed them together while raising one leg off the ground and pressing one foot into her other leg's thigh. "This is Tree. It looks easy, but keeping your balance can take some practice."

She hesitantly raised one foot and moved to put it against her other leg but then her sole remaining pillar of support wobbled and Fareeha was stumbling off to the side. Angela stepped off the mat and into Fareeha's path to keep her from falling any further with an outstretched hand. "Okay, maybe we'll try something where you don't have to worry about falling down, Fareeha." Angela stepped back onto her mat and lowered herself down until she was resting her weight on her forearms and knees. Then she thrust her hips upwards and smoothly walked her hands forward until she resembled a triangle with her bare bottom at its peak.

A few long breathes later and it was Fareeha's turn again. Once she had raised her hips she felt a hand pressing down on her back. "Try to keep your back straight, Fareeha." The hand moved away only to touch her again, but on the outside of her thigh this time. "Spread your legs a little further apart for me." After moving her feet a few centimeters to the outside that hand moved once again, up to the curve of her bottom.

Her blood was already flowing down towards Fareeha's face, but even more made its way to her cheeks as those fingers lingered very near the center of her rear end, their intent unmistakable. Angela's other hand touched the small of her back and slowly began to make its way downward while drifting sideways at the same time. Just as it was making its way along her ribs Fareeha lowered herself to the ground and turned to her side so that she was looking up at the naked woman. "Angela..." She began before stopping momentarily.

"I like you, Angela, I do. You're brilliant, you're beautiful, and I've never met anyone as amazingly fantastic as you. I want this relationship of ours to work and I don't want to hurt your feelings by rejecting your advances over and over but I'm not ready to do anything vanilla with you. I know that sounds dumb coming considering what I do for a living plus the stuff we've already done, but it's true."

Angela smiled softly and reached down to hold one of Fareeha's hands. "That's fine. I know I'm being forward and I'm not trying to put pressure on you. It's just our sessions have been incredible. I've never had anyone make me feel that much pleasure before." Angela looked away for a moment as she continued to speak. "And it makes me feel a little guilty. You've done so much for me already and I feel like all I'm doing is taking and I want to repay you as best as I can."

"You don't..." Fareeha began but Angela cut her off.

"Of course I do. You might be a professional, but you still deserve pleasure. Now with that said if you're not ready then I won't push the issue anymore. If you decide to change your mind then all you have to do is let me know and I'll do whatever you want me to." She leaned down and brushed her lips against Fareeha's mouth. "Are you okay with just holding me right now? I can go put on some clothes if me being naked bothers you."

Fareeha slowly shook her head and gently pulled Angela closer until the other woman's back was pressed into her torso. She nestled her chin onto Angela's shoulder and closed her eyes while resting her hands on the doctor's stomach. Neither of them moved for a long time after that, content to bask in each others warmth.


	6. Questions

Her worn tennis shoes drummed against the paved surface of the sidewalk as Angela rushed towards a circular stone building whose domed roof was supported by stone pillars. She pushed one of its wooden doors opens and hurried inside. Moments later she was skidding into a classroom full of other people, many of whom looked up at her undignified entrance. Angela slung her backpack off of her shoulder and took a seat in the front row. By the time she finished getting a mechanical pencil out there was a tall stack of tests sitting on her desk. She took one off the top and handed the rest to the person sitting directly to her right then took a look at the question at the top of the first page.

 _'What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?'_

Angela frowned at the paper and squeezed her eyes shut then opened them again. Despite her attempt the question on the paper remained exactly the same. She skipped past it to the questions below it.

 _'What do the Knights of Ni want? Explain the differences between monarchies and anarcho-syndicalist communes. How high you have to count in order to throw the Holy Hand Grenade?'_

Angela's forehead furrowed as she stared at the test. This was supposed to be the final exam for her biostatistics class but none of these questions had _anything_ to do with survival analysis's or probability theory. She tilted her head back as if looking at the ceiling, but really she was looking to her side to gauge the other student's reactions. All of them were bent over their papers and writing things down as they answered the questions as if nothing was out of the ordinary. The fire alarm fixed on the wall of the classroom began to beep as it warned them of danger. Angela set her pencil down and started to stand but everyone else remained where they were as if the sound were of no consequence.

Her eyes opened and Angela found herself staring at a half open doorway. The beeping that had woken her was coming from somewhere down below. She blew a stray lock of hair off of her face and pushed herself back up to her feet. By the time she made it downstairs Fareeha was dumping the contents of a pot into a colander sitting in the sink. Plumes of steam rose up in front of her face until the pot was empty and she was setting it back onto the stove. As she watched Fareeha picked up the colander and shook it from side to side to get those last few drops out before emptying the colander into a bowl waiting next to the sink. "What are you making, Fareeha?" Angela asked.

Fareeha turned to look back at Angela and lifted an eyebrow. "Didn't feel like getting dressed or did you forget you were naked?"

Angela glanced down at herself for a moment. She _had_ forgotten, but getting dressed meant walking back all the way upstairs. She shrugged and put a hand on a hip. "Don't tell me you're complaining. What are you making?" She asked again.

"Ful medames. It's fava beans with some stuff added in. Here, come give me a hand."

The doctor moved up to the counter and took a look at the ingredients Fareeha has assembled. Crushed garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and a small measuring cup of a dark yellow grounds. "What kind of spice is this, Fareeha?"

"It's cumin. Just add it to the beans along with everything else and mix it all up." Fareeha explained as she stepped out of the way. Angela walked forward and picked up the bottle of olive oil to pour over the beans first. A moment later and she was grabbing the large wooden salad fork and using it to stir the bowl's contents together. "Anything else, Fareeha?" The other woman shook her head and Angela picked the bowl up before hesitating. "Wait, I don't see any plates or silverware. Do you want me to get those out?"

"I already got some plates out but we don't need silverware, Angela." Fareeha pointed towards the table in the dining room. Another bowl filled to the brim with small rectangles of flatbread sat in the middle of the table and a pair of plates flanked it on either side. "You use the pita bread to scoop beans out instead of using spoons." Angela set the bowl of beans down next to the bowl of bread and moved to the other side of the table and sat down so she was facing towards Fareeha. The other woman pulled out a chair and she took a seat. "It's not much, but you've done all of the cooking so far, Angela and I thought I'd take a turn for once." Fareeha grabbed a piece of bread from the bowl and dipped it into the beans before continuing in a smaller voice. "And.. I hope you're not mad about everything that happened today."

Angela slowly shook her head as she grabbed several pieces of bread and put them on her plate. "I'm not mad really. Still a bit horny, but not mad. I suppose it was inevitable one of our sessions wouldn't go well, but not all of them can be perfect can they? Making mistakes isn't bad either, it's how you learn after all and I'm sure our next session will be better because of it." Angela smiled softly at Fareeha as she started to scoop out some of the beans.

Fareeha took a moment to finish chewing her food and swallow before responding. "How are you always so optimistic, Angela? Is is something you learn as part of becoming a doctor?"

The corners of Angela's lips began to droop as her smile waned until only there wasn't any trace of it remaining. "You could say that. After I graduated from medical school I started working as a surgeon trainee in the emergency room. Most doctors and nurses have something of a rude awakening when they actually start practicing medicine. It's one thing to study medicine, but it's quite another to actually start doing it in the real world. I was ready for that, mostly. I knew I wouldn't be able to save everyone and that eventually someone would die no matter what I did. My first death was still really rough on me, but that's not the most shocking thing. The thing no one tells you is how many people don't actually need your help when they come to the emergency room. That's what really gets to most of my colleagues and why they get so jaded. I didn't want to end up like that so I learned how to stay positive no matter what I was dealing with."

Angela shook her head abruptly. "Sorry, I don't mean to be depressing. I had a dream just now." The doctor said as she changed the conversation. "I was back at school and I was almost late for a test that I was taking. But all of the questions were from that movie we watched before Inception. Monty something... and the Holy Grail."

"Monty Python."

"Right." Angela replied as she looked down at the table, chin resting on one hand. "I'm still trying to figure out what you meant when you said there was a hidden message at the end of the movie. I've been thinking about it and I can't come up with anything. Arthur and his army are trying to storm the castle but then the police show up and arrest him. After that the movie just stops."

Fareeha gave herself enough time to eat another serving before rubbing her hands together. "The ending's a cop out. Literally."

Angela slowly raised her eyes from the table to look up at Fareeha, a blank look on her face. After a moment she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger. "Oh my god." Fareeha leaned back in her chair and started to laugh at the sheer disgust in the doctor's voice. Angela began to shake her head from side to side and the laughter grew louder. "Just how long have you been waiting to spring that on someone, Fareeha?"

"It's been a while now." Fareeha admitted, between further chuckles. "I saw the movie a few years ago and the person who recommended it used that same pun on me after I had watched it. I'm just paying it forward."

Angela pursed her lips and let out a huff as she got herself some more beans. "I'm going to get you back for this you know."

Fareeha leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table as she put her chin on her hands. "Mmmm... I'm looking forward to it. Do your worst."

"Well once I think of something anyways." Angela quietly whispered to herself. The only question was when. Certainly not today, but possibly tomorrow.


	7. Disposition

Fareeha covered her mouth with one hand as she yawned then rubbed at her eyes as she trudged down the hall. It wasn't that early in the morning, but she had stayed up later than usual the previous evening in order to finish writing her latest article and upload it to her site. She pushed the door to her bathroom open and stepped inside before closing the door behind her and locking it. Fareeha dropped her clothes on the counter next to the sink before pulling her pajamas off. A moment later and she was standing in the shower and reaching for the handle that controlled the water. The showerhead sputtered for a second and then water began spraying onto her. Cold water.

"Shit!" Fareeha shrieked as her hand latched onto the metal handle and turned it back to its original position, bringing the frigid spray to a halt. She looked at the showerhead for a moment before reaching up to adjust a lever that controlled whether water came out of the fixed showerhead or the head attached to the end of a flexible metal hose. Fareeha turned the water back on but aimed the handheld unit at the wall as she played with the temperature controls. Despite pushing it all the way up to the hottest setting the water remained a constant and almost icy cold.

Her hand holding the showerhead slowly lowered towards her side as she cut the water off again and stared at the controls. This shower had been working just fine since she had arrived at Angela's house. It had been the doctor's shower that had been malfunctioning and needed to be repaired by a plumber. Angela's property management company had sent someone by to go over the house the previous day and they hadn't found anything wrong. The odds of this shower breaking between then and now were... well she didn't have any idea what they were aside from being extremely low. Unless it wasn't a malfunction or some sort of accident...

" _I'm going to get you back for this you know."_

The showerhead slipped out of Fareeha's fingers and bumped against the wall as the doctor's promise from the previous day came to mind. Fareeha yanked the curtain to the side as she stepped out of the shower. She grabbed a bathrobe hanging off a hook on the bathroom door and pulled it on and cinched it shut before storming out into the hallway. "Angela!"

The pajama-clad woman in question was sitting up in bed, sheets and blankets covering her legs while her back rested against the headboard. She raised her eyes from the paperback novel in her hands as Fareeha burst into her bedroom. Angela looked Fareeha up and down for a moment, seemingly unsurprised at the abrupt entrance, before setting her book down on the bed next to her. "Good morning, Fareeha. How was your shower?"

"Oh, for the love of... you know exactly how it went." Fareeha snapped as she folded her arms across her chest. "What did you do?"

"Do you remember the problem my shower had when we got here?" Angela asked.

Fareeha frowned as she tried to recall what exactly it was that Julian had replaced to fix the doctor's shower the previous week. "The... mixing valve?"

Angela nodded in approval. "That's right. I was watching Julian when he was putting my temperature controls back together so I know how to take them apart now. All I had to do was sneak into your bathroom and adjust the valve so you wouldn't get any hot water this morning."

"And why would you do that?" Fareeha demanded. "Sure I made a stupid pun yesterday, but that doesn't mean turning off my hot water is okay, Angela."

Angela grabbed a wad of her bedding in one hand and pulled them aside until her bare legs and a pair of black briefs were visible. She pulled her knees closer to her chest and spread her feet apart. "Is that so? I guess that's two things I've done wrong now. Why don't you come over here and show me what you do to naughty girls?"

Fareeha's shoulders slowly sagged and her head slowly tilted to one side as she stared at the doctor before putting a hand on her forehead. "I must be dreaming because this feels like the start of a really cliche porno." She walked forward and sat on the bed near the doctors feet. "What are you doing, Angela?" Fareeha softly asked.

The impish look on Angela's face faltered then vanished. "I was trying to start a session..."

"By turning off my hot water? I don't see what that has to do with..." Fareeha's voice trailed off as she realized what Angela had been trying to accomplish. "You were trying to provoke me."

"Well... yes. You said that since we were in a relationship the way we handled bondage would be different. Our last session happened because I broke the rule you gave me. I figured if I did something like that again then you would punish me or something like that..." Angela explained.

Fareeha sighed as she put a hand on one of Angela's ankles and slowly began to caress her shin. "I should have explained that. What I meant when I said that is that we have to figure out what our dynamic is now that we're starting a romantic relationship. Last week things were pretty straightforward between the two of us. You told me the kinds of things you wanted to experience and I made them happen because you were my client. But now things are more complicated since we have feelings for each other. I ordered you not to wear underwear because I wanted to see how you'd respond to it. Not talking it overwas a mistake that led to our session going bad plus this shower thing just now and it's a mistake I don't want to repeat."

Fareeha's hand came to a halt and she gave Angela's ankle an affectionate squeeze. "If you want to do sessions then all you have to do is ask me. You don't have to go this far to get me to top for you, Angela. To be honest this was a really bad way to go about it since it actually made me angry. If I tried to top for you when I was angry then it would be really easy for me to accidentally cross the line and hurt you and I really don't want that to happen."

Angela sagged backwards against the headboard and she turned her head to the side as she looked down at the bed they were sitting on. "I'm sorry, Fareeha. I wasn't trying to hurt you or make you angry or anything like that. I know turning your water off is a lousy thing to do and that I shouldn't have done it. I guess I'm just as confused as you about how this is supposed to work between us." She glanced at her discarded book for a moment then back up at Fareeha. "So now what?"

As she considered the question Fareeha's gaze began to wander. This wasn't the first time she had been in this room, but she had been too preoccupied with pointing Julian towards the bathroom to really look around. Posters of various musical groups from the previous century hung on the walls. A few of their names were vaguely familiar, but the majority of them weren't. An oak record cabinet filled with black discs tucked away in their sleeves stood on one side of the room. Photographs, a few figurines, and several miniature instruments stood on top of the cabinet and there was a record player sitting on a set of drawers next to the cabinet. Fareeha cast a curious glance towards Angela. "What is that?"

"It's a record player." Angela said as she stood up from the bed and walked over to the record cabinet. She squatted down and pulled out one of the sleeves before standing back up and withdrawing the black disc it held. "Do you want to listen to one with me?"

Fareeha blinked as she looked at the object Angela was holding. "Listen? You mean that's music? I've never seen one of these before."

Angela placed the disc onto the player before setting the sleeve down next to the device. "That's not surprising, they're not very common since everything is recorded digitally these days. But computers weren't really around in the mid twentieth century so musicians recorded their stuff on these." She pressed a button on the player and the disc began to spin. Angela moved back towards the bed and held a hand out to Fareeha. "Dance with me."

"W-what?"

The doctor took Fareeha's hand in her own, pulling Fareeha up off the bed. She drew Fareeha in close together and clasped her hands behind Fareeha's neck. As Angela began to sway and circle a man's voice came from the record player.

 _Hey Jude, don't make it bad._

Words continued to float out of the record player's speakers but Fareeha didn't hear anything past the first line. Her world was narrowing until the only thing was the woman in front of her. That blonde hair, those blue eyes gazing back at her. The fingers resting on her neck, the fine cotton of Angela's pajamas beneath her hands, and the way her heart was hammering at how close the doctor's body was to hers. Fareeha's head dipped forward towards Angela until their foreheads were touching. "Do you want to do a session tonight, Angela?"

"Yes. But right now I just want to stay here with you. Is that all right?"

Fareeha gave a gentle smile as they continued to circle around each other. "That sounds wonderful."


	8. Gyrations

Fareeha's finger rose into the air then dropped back downwards as she tapped it against her arm, only to repeat itself again and again in harmony with a ticking sound. Her eyes remained fixed on the source of the noise, a round object hanging on the wall of her bedroom much like they had been for the last ten minutes. A slender metal rod moved from one black dash to the next as it revolved around in a full circle. _Tick tick tick_.

In her years of working as a dominatrix Fareeha had serviced dozens or possibly hundreds of clients, both men and women, though the majority of said clients had been men. During those years she had become proficient in using a myriad of tools in the course of her work. Ropes, strap-ons, whips, candles, paddles, and many others. There were plenty of tools that she hadn't used and kinks she hadn't participated in, but she was more than familiar with all the common ones. And yet for all of her experience here she was nervously counting down the seconds to the time she and Angela had agreed upon.

The reason why she was nervous was obvious to Fareeha, not that knowing made this wait any easier to bear. All of those clients in the past had been just that. The people who had booked her would walk into her 'office' as strangers, the session would happen and afterwards they would leave once in the right state of mind. Over time she had developed a small pool of regulars but even those few individuals weren't anything more than clients whose faces she recognized and whose kinks she actually remembered. She had never actually cared about any of her clients outside the confines of her work. Until a certain doctor had walked through the door and into her life.

This wasn't the first session the two of them had done together. It wasn't even their first session since she had admitted her feelings for Angela but the last one had been a spur of the moment thing and had gone poorly. This time would be different. Fareeha had already gone over Angela's list of kinks and made several different plans for the doctor to pick between when the time came. But for now the only thing to do was try and not to fidget as she waited. _Tick tick tick._

Fareeha's tapping came to a halt as her arms jerked as a knock intruded into the almost silent room. There was no need to ask who it was and she stood up to open the door. Angela stood on the other side, her blonde hair spilling down onto her white bathrobe. The doctor gave a warm smile that added even more butterflies to the ones already present. "So, are you ready, Fareeha?"

"I think so." Fareeha began as she held her computer pad up for Angela to peruse. "How do you want to do this?"

Angela rubbed at the back of her neck with one hand. "Well, I've been thinking about that. I know you said the way we handle bondage was going to change and maybe it will, but I don't think we need to rush things. The way you handled our sessions last week was great. You explained everything to me before we began and there wasn't a single time I was _actually_ nervous or scared about what we were going to do. I think we should keep doing it like that and let things progress naturally as we get to know each other better."

Fareeha blinked several times before brandishing the pad again. "All right, well I had a few ideas for this session but it's your decision. Which one looks good to you?"

Angela leaned forward to look at the pad before pointing with one finger. "Tickling. We haven't done that yet. Anything I need to do for that one?"

"There is actually. You should go use the bathroom right now." Fareeha said as she stepped into the hallway. "I don't want to imply you can't control your bladder but I also don't want to risk getting peed on." Fareeha planted a quick kiss onto Angela's cheek. "I'll meet you in the bunker okay?"

By the time Angela made it down to the bunker Fareeha had already gotten the equipment and toys she needed for this session and laid them out in a row. She waved Angela over and waited until the doctor had knelt on the mattress before pointing at the first item, a pair. "So here are the restraints. This strap here goes under the mattress and hooks onto these cuffs which go on your wrists. I thought about putting them on your ankles too, but you'll be able to squirm around more without them. Instead I'm going to use this to tie your ankles together." Fareeha gestured towards a small coil of blue rope before moving on down the row. The first item was a feather around fifteen centimeters with a stiff bright red vane and the pointed end of its quill had been sanded down so that the tip was smooth to the touch. "I don't think I need to explain a feather to you but I'm not sure if you're familiar with this next toy or not."

"That's a Wartenberg wheel." Angela said, recognizing the device immediately. The tool was made entirely of stainless steel but its handle had been wrapped in a narrow black tape. At the end of the device a wheel with pointed spikes lining the whole length of its perimeter spun freely as Fareeha picked it up and brushed her finger against it.

"You recognize it?" Fareeha asked, taken by surprise at how quickly Angela had responded. "I didn't think these were still used in medicine anymore."

"They're not, but I studied medical history in university and I remember reading about these. They were invented to test nerve sensitivity in patients. I've never used one though. Should be interesting to see how it feels when you use it on me." She glanced about briefly before looking back to Fareeha. "Is that all? I figured there would be more toys for tickling than that."

Fareeha glanced at the two toys she had pulled out for this. "There are, but most of the toys used for tickling weren't made with that purpose in mind. Paintbrushes, tooth brushes, feather dusters are common." She held her hands up and wiggled her fingers at Angela. "The main thing people use are these. So for this session I was thinking..." Her voice trailed off as she looked down at the toys on the mattress and she abruptly stood up. "Hang on."

Fareeha darted over to one of her boxes and reached inside to pull something out. A vibrator with a large bulbous head at the end of it. "Okay so I was thinking that we'll do this one in stages. I'll tie you up then start with my fingers then when you're ready you can ask me to switch to the feather. After that I'll switch to the wheel and when you're ready I'll use the vibrator to make you orgasm. Does that sound okay?"

Angela reached down to her waist and undid the belt holding her bathrobe together revealing a distinct lack of any clothing beneath it. She pulled her arms out of the sleeves and shrugged the garment off before lying down in the middle of the mattress. "That sounds wonderful, Fareeha."

Fareeha grabbed the strap and moved to one end of the mattress, lifting one corner up and shoving part of the restraint underneath. She moved her way to the other side until the entire strap was in place then pulled one end and soon the other up to the mattress's top side. Fareeha took the cuffs and secured them onto Angela's wrists before fastening the strap's carabiners to a hook on the outside of both cuffs. "Okay, pull on these for me, Angela." Fareeha requested. Angela forcibly tugged against one cuff then the other, but neither gave way to her yanks. Fareeha turned away to grab the blue rope and began to wind it around Angela's ankles. Once satisfied she hitched the ends together and looked back at the doctor. "Does that feel okay? It's not too tight is it?"

"No, it feels fine." Angela took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she looked up at her mistress. "Green."

"Let's see how many ribs you have." Fareeha began drumming her fingers along both of Angela's sides as she started to count out loud. "One.. two... three..." The doctor pressed her mouth together, determined to not make any noise but she couldn't stop herself from twitching from side to side as Fareeha alternated which hand she was counting with. "...wait I lost count. I'll have to start over. One... two..."

A soft snort forced its way out of the doctor's lips and the crack quickly widened as Angela began to giggle. Her hands tugged against the restraints and her bound ankles flailed from side to side as she tried to squirm away, but to no avail. Every time she moved Fareeha would reposition herself next to Angela and continue counting. "Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four. Wait does that sound right? You're the doctor. Do people _really_ have twenty-four ribs?"

"Yes." Angela replied as Fareeha's fingers came to a halt, giving her some respite though she knew it wasn't going to last very long.

"Are you sure?" Fareeha asked as she tapped her chin with a mock inquisitive look settling onto her features. "No, that doesn't sound right. I think I need to double check to make sure."

"No, no, no!" The doctor gleefully shrieked as she started trying to wriggle away again as Fareeha started counting from one. By the time Fareeha got back to twenty-four Angela found herself torn between thinking humans did have too many ribs while another part of her wished there were more. "Yellow." She said as Fareeha's hands drifted back towards the bottom of her rib cage. "Okay, feather now. Please. Green."

Fareeha's fingers stopped at once and she got up to retrieve said item before returning to Angela. This time she wasn't content to sit at the doctor's side. Instead she swung a leg over Angela's stomach, trapping her between Fareeha's knees. The dominatrix swam one of her arms underneath Angela's knees and raised the doctor's legs up towards Fareeha's chest. She cupped Angela's thigh with one hand to keep those legs from being able to go anywhere before the feather began to move.

This time it wasn't a snort or a giggle, but an outright laugh escaping Angela as the feather brushed against her toes. Her hands were free to pull at will against her cuffs, a fact she was readily taking advantage of, but Fareeha's grip on her legs felt unbreakable. Furthermore Fareeha's knees were pressing against her sides and somehow she was generating a surprising amount of pressure to ensure that Angela's bottom remained pinned to the mattress. The only other thing Angela could do was to endure. To laugh and enjoy the moment.

The feather left her toes behind and dipped lower. Angela's hips bucked as the stiff barbs traced a line connecting the ball of her foot down along her sole to her heel. Unperturbed by the motion Fareeha drew an identical line on Angela's other foot before returning up to her feet. Another bout of laughs emerged from Angela as the very tip of the feather began worming its way into the crevice between her big and index toes. Fareeha slowly pushed the feather almost all the way through then slowly drew it back opposite the way it had gone in. Then she moved onto the next gap to do it again. By the time Fareeha had finished the pattern on her other foot Angela could feel something other than laughter present in her stomach. "Let's do the wheel now, mistress."

"As you wish." Fareeha said before setting the feather down and picking the metal implement up. She rose up off of Angela's lap and moved so that she was kneeling at the doctor's side. "Let me know if it hurts, even if it's just a little, and try to stay still. I don't want to break your skin but if that happens then I have some band-aids and anti-septic ready."

Angela swallowed once but didn't move when the points of the wheel made contact with her skin. As the cold steel begin to leisurely roll across her she could see why Fareeha was being cautious. Each of the spikes easily felt sharp enough to draw blood if they were pushed too hard but there was barely any downward pressure from her mistress's practiced hand. Instead the wheel easily rolled along her skin as it made its way through the space between her breasts up towards her neck. It stopped at the hollow at the base of her throat before withdrawing. Fareeha lifted up one of Angela's feet and the wheel pressed into the ball of the foot with even less pressure than it had used on her torso. It slowly traced a circle along her sole before moving to the the outside of her leg. The spikes continued to spin as it climbed upwards along the edge of her thigh and back onto Angela's stomach. Fareeha's hand slowed but continued to move as she drew near one breast. She inhaled sharply and held it as the wheel ran along the side of her breast before climbing up to levy a gentle metal kiss to her nipple. Angela winced and the tool was gone before she even finished speaking one of her safe words. "Yellow."

Fareeha set the tool down and she leaned in closer as her eyes scoured Angela's chest for any red or a puncture wound that hadn't yet begun to bleed. "Are you all right, Angela? We can stop now if you want."

Angela shook her head and gave the Wartenberg wheel a pensive look. "I was alright until just then. Let's not use that on my nipples the next time we use it." Her eyes left the tool behind as they found their way to Fareeha's face, a hungering look appearing on her face. "I want the vibrator now please. Green."

A tremor ran through Angela as the vibrator pressed into the gap between her thighs and an even stronger tremor shook her when Fareeha flipped the switch to turn it on. Fingers on her ribs, a feather on her feet, those fine spikes roaming over her skin had all combined to leave her nerves strangely heightened. The cuffs clinging to her wrists, the grain of the ropes on her ankles, the smooth sheet beneath her body, the toy vibrating against her most sensitive parts, the way Fareeha's eyes were watching her as the dominatrix concentrated on her task. On Angela.

She murmured softly and Angela's eyes fluttered shut as she surrendered to the sensation. No more squirming or pulling. Just pleasure. The feather was just a tool. The Wartenberg wheel was just a tool as was the vibrator sending ripples into her. Her chest began to rise and fall as her breathing deepened and her fingers curled into a fist as the ripples continued. Angela's eyes opened and they found their way to Fareeha's face as she drew closer and closer. The tools themselves were inanimate objects and it was only in the hands of a person that they could accomplish anything. Fareeha's hands.

Angela's gaze remained fixed as her muscles grew taut and a soft cry exited her lips as she fell over the edge to a place where bliss was waiting for. When the moment passed Angela found that her wrists had been freed and Fareeha was in the middle of undoing the knot she had tied earlier. Angela put a hand on Fareeha's cheek as she sat up and turned the other woman's face towards her. She leaned in and pressed her lips to Fareeha's. After a brief moment of surprise Fareeha started to return the kiss and then they were lying down, their arms around each other as it deepened. Angela reluctantly broke away after a long moment and she brushed her fingers through Fareeha's hair. "Thank you." She whispered.

Fareeha looked to the side where a paper bag was waiting next to a thick blanket. "Do you want some chocolate? Or maybe a blanket if you feel cold."

Angela shook her head before dropping it onto Fareeha's shoulder as she snuggled even closer to the other woman. "In a bit, right now I just want you to hold me."

Fareeha softly kissed the top of Angela's head and moved one of her hands to rest on Angela's hip. "As you wish. Do you have any thoughts about our session? Things you did or didn't like or suggestions on what I could do better."

"I do have a question." Angela said as she wound a lock of Fareeha's hair around her finger. "When you were tickling my feet you were holding me down but it didn't feel like you were really doing anything. What was that?"

"I once had a client who wanted me to wrestle him into submission. Wrestling's not exactly rare but he wanted me to actually be able to hold him down until he surrendered. I had to go take classes from sort of grappling instructor to learn how to do what he was asking for. It was a weird request but he paid for the classes and everything so I know a simple takedown and how to sit on someone so they can't get up."

Angela's brow furrowed as she took in that little tidbit. "Huh. Well it definitely worked on me. I didn't have any problems this session except when you used that wheel on my nipple. That was too much for me. Maybe if you had one that was duller then it'd be okay but not the one you have over there."

"Anything else other than that, Angela?"

"Hmm... I suppose I could go for some chocolate now. Aside from that nothing comes to mind..." She raised her head up higher and pressed her lips against Fareeha's jawline. "Nothing aside from saying thank you again."


	9. Furnishings

Fareeha reached up with both hands towards the ceiling to stretch her arms as she headed down the stairs. As she trudged into the kitchen Angela was already there. The doctor was leaning over in front of an open oven as she pulled out a pan full of bread rolls. As she straightened back up she turned towards Fareeha. "Good morning!" Angela said cheerfully as she carried the pan to the dining room table. "Did you sleep well, Fareeha? I already made breakfast if you're hungry."

Next to the pan were jars of dark jam and a small plate holding a large square of butter. Fareeha sat down in one of the chairs before responding to the question. "I slept all right. Thanks for making breakfast."

"You're welcome." Angela started to sit down but stopped before her butt was in the seat and she hurried back into the kitchen. "Oh shoot, I forgot to pour the tea." She grabbed a kettle off the top of the oven and removed a few tea bags before emptying its contents into a pitcher that had been waiting nearby.

Fareeha picked up the pitcher and poured some into her cup before glancing at Angela. "What kind of tea is this?"

"It's Koshary. That's your favorite isn't it?" Angela asked.

"I don't know if I would call it my favorite, but I do enjoy it a great deal and it's a very popular drink in Egypt. Thank you for making it though." Fareeha lifted the cup to her lips and took a small sip before giving Angela a small smile.

Angela smiled back before reaching for the rolls. As she started spreading jam onto one of them she cleared her throat. "Do you have plans for today? I have something that I wanted to ask you about after we finish eating breakfast if you don't mind."

"Not at all." Fareeha replied as she cut off a piece of butter and began to scrape it onto a roll of her own. "I'll have to use the bathroom first though."

After breakfast Fareeha returned back downstairs to find Angela sitting on the couch in the living room as she waited. Fareeha plopped herself down next to Angela. "So, what did you want to ask me?"

The doctor rubbed at the side of her neck before responding. "So yesterday before our session began I was looking around at the bunker and I realized something. It's pretty empty down there. We got the mattress and those bunks but there's still plenty of room for... stuff."

"Stuff... like what?" Fareeha prompted, not sure what Angela was getting at.

"Well during our first session you tied me to that wooden cross thing. I was thinking we could get something like that for the bunker. I was also thinking about buying a frame for the mattress so it isn't just lying there on the ground." Angela said.

"Oh okay, you're talking about furniture." Fareeha replied. "I can definitely help you with that. The first question is whether you want to build something yourself or buy something online. If you do it yourself then you can choose your own materials and customize things however you see fit. Of course you need the tools and you have to know what you're doing. Doing it yourself means there's a chance you could get hurt if you screw something up though. Buying something online will cost more but the construction will be reliable if you order from a reputable website."

Fareeha put her hands on her knees as she stood up abruptly. "Let me go get my pad. I'll be right back, Angela." A minute later and she was back on the couch next to Angela. "I've had to order stuff occasionally for work and this is the site I use. Do you want me to go through it with you, Angela?"

"Yes, please."

"All right so there's a few common types of furniture that you'll see on most good sites. The design varies from one site to the other, but the basic idea is always the same." Fareeha clicked on one of the page's links and images began to load up. "So here's their most popular chair."

The chair in question had a reclined back and its arms were extended out to the sides. Small rings lined the edge of its wooden frame and black pads covered all the areas where a person's body would come into contact with it. Angela tilted her head to the side as she looked at it. "It says adjustable but I don't see how." Fareeha swiped her finger to the left until a picture taken of the chair from one side appeared. Beneath the chair's back were a pair of boards held together by wingnuts. One was supporting the chair back and the other was connected to the base by a pair of hinges.

Fareeha tapped on the pad and the screen shifted to a different kind of furniture. "Tables are pretty straightforward and there's not a whole lot to them. Some people prefer to get a massage table since those are cheaper and add rings or cuffs to them themselves."

She changed the page again and Angela frowned when she saw what popped up. "Those look like... dog cages."

"Pretty much. Pet play is a thing." Fareeha said with a shrug. "And for some people that's why they buy them. There's also the prisoner and slave dynamic. Other people just like being locked in cages though."

Angela shook her head for a bit then stopped. "I guess there are all kinds out there. I like being spanked though so who am I to judge? What else is there?"

"Well there's benches. Those come in a lot of different shapes and sizes and they're used for a few different things. Spanking is probably the most common but take a look at this one." Fareeha pointed with her finger at one of the pictures before pressing on it to enlarge the image. A pair of leather legs extended outwards from a slanted block and multiple straps for restraining the user's limbs were affixed on each side. "Look at how these legs are angled. That spreads a person's feet apart which makes penetration easier."

Angela's head slowly craned to one side and her ears began to burn as she looked at the screen. She wasn't just seeing a bench, she was seeing herself on it. Her chest pressing into the top of the bench, her arms and legs secured in place by those straps, the woman at her side standing behind Angela's bare bottom-

"Hello? Angela?"

Fareeha's voice cut into her reverie and Angela started in surprise. "What? Oh uhm, sorry what were you saying?" Angela asked, her face growing even warmer.

Fareeha tilted her head to one side as she looked back and forth between the doctor and the bench that had ensnared her attention. "That bench seemed to get your attention. Would you be interested in buying it?"

"Umm maybe. It looks really... neat. How much does it cost?" Angela's voice trailed off as Fareeha exited the enlarged image and navigated to the item's listing. "Three thousand euros!" Angela yelped in surprise.

"Yeah, it's pretty pricey but that's what you get when you you're shopping for BDSM furniture online. It's a niche market and there's not a ton of competitors to drive prices down. There _are_ cheaper sites out there but from what I've seen this site makes the best stuff so it costs more but for good reason."

"So this is where you get your furniture for work?" Angela asked, the price she had just seen still shocking her.

"I've bought a couple of niche items from them but to be honest I prefer using regular furniture for my sessions. It lets me be more creative and it costs a lot less too."

Angela rubbed her chin as she considered that. "How much of the furniture in this house would you be able to use in a session?"

"Let's see." Fareeha replied as she looked around the room for a moment. "We could do stuff on this couch but nothing with the couch itself. The legs are too short to tie ropes to." She pointed at the coffee table in front of them. "Now that I could do a lot with if we took the glass out. Coffee tables can be fantastic for bondage if the wood is strong enough. What else... your dining room table is big to work with the right restraints. Beds are good of course but I think my favorite piece of furniture to work with is a chair. You can do a _lot_ with a chair but even it really depends on the chair. The most versatile chair is one where you can remove the back or the seat."

"Why would you want to remove the sea... " Angela's eyes widened as some of the possibilities that created dawned on her. "Oh. Oh!" She fidgeted for a moment then pointed at the screen. "So there's a miscellanous section. What's in there?"

Fareeha's finger hesitated before clicking the link and she gave Angela a sidelong look. "If you really want to look at these then we will, but some of the stuff in there is weird even by bondage standards. Are you sure?" Angela paused for a moment before nodding and Fareeha tapped on the tablet.

Almost immediately Angela's eyes were drawn to the topmost picture. A sheet of shiny black material with a woman tightly encased from head to toe in the middle of it. The sole exception was a small hole where the woman's mouth was and a black tube protruding from the hole itself. "What... is that?"

"That is a vacbed." Fareeha replied before enlarging the image they were looking at for a better view. "In a way a vacbed is like a sleeping bag. There's a zipper on this side here that lets whoever is using it to get in and out. There's two holes in a vacbed. The first one is where people position their mouth so they can breath. The other is down here and that's where the vacuum is attached. When you're ready you turn the vaccuum on and it sucks all the air out and pulls the material tight against the user's body."

Angela's mouth opened then closed almost immediately. "Huh." She grunted. "I don't see what people get out of this. It actually looks kinda boring to me."

"There's a few things going on, Angela. You remember what it was like to wear latex? Well this whole thing is made out of latex but your entire body is being squeezed by it instead of just parts of you. There's also sensory deprivation going on here since you can't see anything so it's like wearing a blindfold which you've done. And if the top wants to then they can use a vibrator on the person in the bed. You've done all of that before already. A vacbed just takes it further."

As Fareeha explained the bed to her Angela's gaze swung back and forth between her mistress and the tablet screen. Once Fareeha had finished Angela squeezed her tongue between her teeth before shaking her head a little. "I guess so. I don't think I'm interested in that. It just looks too weird to me, no offense."

"None taken. I'm familiar with vacbeds but I've never actually used one in a session. They seem interesting but I don't care much for toys where there's a risk of death, even if it's a risk that can be avoided."

"Death?" Angela frowned at the word and took another look at the tablet. "Oh I see. Asphixation if the person's mouth is in the wrong position. Yeah I'll definitely pass on vacbeds. What else is there on this page?" Fareeha ran her finger down the screen and the next image came into view.

A pair of T shaped legs made of steel painted black stood opposite each other and a slat bolted onto each connected them together. A remote dangled from one side beneath a long power cable that was wrapped into circles. On the opposite side a thin metal rod was connected to a spinning lever on one end and a bar with a rounded tip not unlike an arrow on the other end. Angela frowned again as she studied the device. "Okay I'm confused. This part here-" She pointed at the rounded tip. "-looks like it can move but I don't see what the point of that would be."

"It's a fucking machine, Angela." Fareeha explained. "You get a dildo adapter and slide it onto the end here. These bolts here let you adjust how high you want the dildo to be. After you've got that set all you have to do is plug it in, flip a switch, and the machine does the rest. Once you've had enough you turn it off and you're done."

"A machine that fucks people." Angela said, enunciating each word more than normal. "I suppose I can kinda get it. A machine will never get tired and penetration _is_ fun. But it seems so impersonal, there's no emotion or intimacy with a machine. If I felt like being penetrated then I wouldn't want anything or anyone but you to do it."

Angela's face instantly turned a bright shade of red as soon as she stopped speaking. She started to open her mouth to speak again, stopped, then jumped to her feet and scurried out of the room. Fareeha blinked once at the abrupt exit before chuckling quietly to herself and hiding a smile beneath her hand. Now there was an idea for their next session.


	10. Sharing

Fareeha yawned a bit while stretching her fingers out in front of her as she made her way into the kitchen. Preparing and eating dinner together had become something of a routine for the two of them but the kitchen was empty when Fareeha arrived. She glanced to the side only to see that the dining room was unoccupied but there was a crumb covered plate still on the table. Angela must have already eaten but hadn't stuck around long enough to clean up after herself like she usually did. She picked the plate up and rinsed it off before placing it in the dishwasher. _Guess I'm eating alone tonight._

After she had finished eating then loading her plate and silverware in the dishwasher Fareeha trudged up the stairs. The sun had already set but there was still light in the hallway. A sliver spilling outwards beneath the doctor's bedroom door. Fareeha hesitated in front of the door before raising her hand and knocking. "Can I come in, Angela?"

There was a brief silence before Angela's voice came through the door. "Uh, sure." Fareeha opened the door and stepped inside. Angela was lying on her bed just like the last time Fareeha had come into this room. She was wearing the same pajamas and she even had the same book in her hands as last time. Fareeha's head cocked to one side at the all too familiar sight and she pulled out her phone for a few seconds before putting it away before pinching herself. Angela lifted an eyebrow. "What are you doing, Fareeha?"

"Um... just getting deja vu. Had to check the date and make sure I wasn't dreaming or something. Anyways, I was just checking to see if you were all right. You bolted pretty quickly earlier when we were talking earlier so I wanted to make sure there isn't anything wrong."

Angela set her book off to one side and patted the bed."Come sit down." She waited until Fareeha was seated on the edge before continuing. "You haven't offended me or anything if that's what you're worried about, Fareeha. Something occurred to me at the end of our conversation and I ended up getting really flustered."

The last topic in their conversation had been fucking machines, a type of device that Angela had shown a distinct lack of interest in using. Instead the doctor had stated that the only penetration she was interested in was from Fareeha. "Do you mean the idea of me using a strap-on, Angela? Doing that isn't a problem for me at all if that's what's bothering you."

"I know." Angela said in a quiet voice. "When I was looking at that bench all I could see was me being strapped to it and you standing behind me with a strapon. I got really flustered which is why I ran off but I realized something else when I got to my room. You wouldn't have any problems doing that with me precisely because you've done it before."

Fareeha tilted her head to the side, curious as to what Angela was getting at. "Well, yes. I use strap-on's as part of my job from time to time but you already know what I do for a living. It's why you came to me in the first place after all."

"I know." Angela said again. "You're a professional dominatrix. I don't have an issue with your profession itself especially since it's how we met but now..." She and her hands squeezed the sheet covering her legs. "But now you're not just someone I visited for a session six months ago. Now you're someone I have feelings for and am in a relationship with. We still have a little over two weeks before our month is up but I can't help but look forward. When we leave here you'll go back to working at that place and to be honest it bothers me. I know I shouldn't feel this way but I do."

"It's fine, honestly." Fareeha leaned backwards until she was lying on Angela's legs and reached up with one hand to entangle their fingers together. "I've been wondering about this too. Working as a dominatrix makes relationships complicated even with the most understanding of people. Personally speaking I don't consider what I do to be sex, but I will admit that it _is_ sexual in nature. The most important thing, to me, is that I don't have any attachments to my clients. At the end of the day they show up, I do my thing and then they leave."

"I don't know, Fareeha. I get that you don't have feelings for your clients and all. It still feels weird to know that when my girlfriend goes to work she's spanking random people or doing... more invasive things to them."

Fareeha squeezed Angela's hand, hoping to reassure the doctor. "I know you don't like this but what do you expect me to do? Quit my job?" Angela hesitated and and she looked away from Fareeha, a blank patch of the wall suddenly very interesting to her. Fareeha grimaced and pushed herself up until she was sitting upright. "Trust me when I say that I've thought about quitting before but what would I do? I studied film in university and I have my website but I don't make any money off that. I like to think I'm a good dominatrix but tying people up and spanking them isn't exactly a marketable skill."

Angela turned her gaze from the wall back towards Fareeha. "If you're worried about money then I could pull some strings and get you a job somewhere." Her voice faltered before she plunged on ahead. "There's also the offer I made last week too. Your job wouldn't really change except for the fact I'd be your only client."

"Those are tempting offers," Fareeha admitted, "and it would let me stop working at that place. I like you, Angela. A lot. The thing is that I've always believed in being able to provide for myself. Letting you get me a job or working for you would take that away since I'd be relying on you for money and I feel like it'd hurt our relationship in the long run if I accepted your offer."

"All right then." Angela conceded. "Is there anything else I could do to help you figure things out? I could speak to my university and ask them to set up an appointment with one of their career counselors."

"That's not a bad idea." Fareeha stated as she rubbed at her chin. "I'll think about it. In the meantime I can make some adjustments to how I handle sessions when I do end up going back if that'll make you more comfortable with it. I'll stick to wearing jeans and a tee shirt. No more going naked or wearing latex outfits or anything like that. Another thing is that I won't use strap-on's anymore and I'll stop doing penetration altogether with my male clients."

I guess that could work..." Angela mused. "But wouldn't doing that mean you'd make less money? I don't know how you get paid now that I think about it."

"It's not a problem. Taking pegging off the table will make me lose a couple of clients, but most of my clients have other things in mind when they schedule an appointment with me. Restraints, waxplay, sensory deprivation and a bunch of other stuff. What matters is making sure you're comfortable with what I do when I'm at work. I don't want you to feel like I'm being unfaithful." Fareeha explained, hoping that the compromise would be enough.

Angela gave half of a smile and this time she was the one squeezing a hand. "Thank you. That means a lot. Our relationship is about as unorthodox as it gets but knowing you're willing to compromise to make it work makes me feel a lot better about all of this." The doctor put her other hand onto Fareeha's knee as she continued to speak. "But a relationship is a two way street. Is there anything you'd like me to do for you?"

Fareeha slowly shook her head. "Nothing comes to mind at the moment but I'll think about it. For now I'd say you should just keep being so amazing."

The smile on Angela's face widened and she glanced around the room for a second. "Would... would you like to stay the night with me?"

Spots of red instantly appeared on Fareeha's cheeks. "D-does that mean what I think it means?" She stammered.

"No-not like _that_. I mean like sleeping in the same bed. Nothing more, nothing less." Angela's face turned an even brighter shade than the one on Fareeha's cheeks as she looked down at the sheets. "I just want to see how sleeping in the same bed as you goes... Though I can't promise I won't try to grab your butt."

Fareeha laughed once and she rose to her feet. Her hands grabbed the bottom of her shirt and a moment later the garment had been tossed to the floor. Fareeha faced away from Angela and leaned forward as she undid her jeans and pushed them down to her ankles. She paused long enough to make sure that Angela had gotten an eyeful before turning back around now that she was clad only in plain black briefs and a bra to match them. "Well I won't complain about that as long as you don't wake me up. I'm sure it'll give me some pleasant dreams."

Silence ensued but the way Angela's cheeks were flushing and the doctor yanking her sheet to one side was response enough. Fareeha put her hands on the bed before crawling forward on all four's as she laid down next to Angela. She grabbed one of Angela's hands and moved it down to the curve of her hip while kissing the doctor's lips at the same time. "I hope you have sweet dreams, Angela. I know I will."

Angela swallowed nervously and she resisted the impulse to move her hand though it felt like it was going to burn away, along with the rest of her, if she kept it there. Her intentions were chaste, mostly, but now that Fareeha was actually in her bed Angela was almost beginning to regret this. Having her partner so close at hand and barely wearing anything at that. Even if she could touch Fareeha's bottom this was going to be a long and frustrating night.

She tensed her fingers ever so slightly and Fareeha murmured ever so slightly at the touch. Frustrating but worth it.


	11. Search

Angela's eyes gradually fluttered open to a room covered in shadows. Her head slowly turned as she looked at the clock sitting on a dresser next to her bed. The first number on the clock was a one followed by a colon and the number twenty-three. There were several hours before her alarm was set to go off and it was far too early to get up to boot. Angela's head turned the other way to see if Fareeha might have woken her but the Egyptian woman was sound asleep.

Fareeha had all the blankets and sheets pulled tight around her.

Angela scowled at the sight and she grabbed a hold of the blanket's nearest corner and began wiggling it, as lightly as she could to avoid waking Fareeha, out from beneath one bronze arm. The blanket had just started to slip free when Fareeha incoherently mumbled something and she rolled onto her side, trapping the blanket beneath her.

She started to grab the blanket again but this time Fareeha lazily swatted at Angela's hand. "Stop, too cold." Angela froze with her hand outstretched as she stared at her partner. Was Fareeha actually awake? A minute slowly passed and Fareeha didn't move or say anything further.

"Parasomnia." Angela whispered under her breath to herself. Fareeha was still asleep, but apparently aware of Angela's actions on some level. She grumbled as she swung her legs off the end of the bed and stood up before heading out into the hallway. Moments later and she was unfolding another blanket and a thin sheet to go beneath it. Angela laid down on the bed before settling them over her and closing her eyes.

The next time her eyes opened shrill buzzes were coming from the alarm clock. Angela groaned and slapped the button on top to make it stop. She rolled over to look at Fareeha but the other woman was still asleep despite the alarm. Angela put a hand on Fareeha's shoulder and shook it. "Rise and shine."

Fareeha sleepily muttered in response and she disappeared beneath the blanket as she pulled it up and over her head. Angela bemusedly shook her head and got off the bed. Not only was Fareeha a blanket stealer, she also slept like a log apparently. She would wake up sooner or later Angela mused. Having breakfast ready for when that happened would be a good way to start her lover's day she decided.

When Fareeha finally came downstairs half an hour later a pan full of eggs was waiting on the next to a stack of toast along with butter and jam. Angela looked up from her plate, forkful of eggs in her mouth, and waved hello with her free hand. Fareeha sat down in the opposite chair and began shoveling eggs onto her own plate. "Good morning Angela, sleep well?"

"You hogged the blanket."

"What?"

"Last night." Angela said while setting her fork down on her plate. "You pulled the blanket off me. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go get my own. Is that something you have a tendency to do?"

"I don't know." Fareeha admitted as she reached for the toast. "I've always had my own bed ever since I was a little girl. This is the first time I've actually shared a bed with anyone else. I guess I might. I didn't steal your other blanket did I?"

"No... I suppose not. I guess that's what we'll have to do if we sleep in the same bed again." Angela picked her fork back up but hesitated before going for more of her eggs. "Are you doing anything today? I was thinking we could spend the day together doing something." Angela said hopefully.

"No, not really. What did you have in mind, Angela?"

"Geocaching."

Fareeha frowned for a moment before shaking her head. "Never heard of it. What's geocaching?"

"It's like treasure hunting." Angela excitedly leaned forward as she began to explain. "People go out and hide caches for others to find. A cache could be anything. Sometimes they're big like an old ammo box or a tackle box. Sometimes they're small like a plastic container or a pill bottle."

"Hide them where?"

Angela pulled out her phone and started pushing buttons on it. "A rule of thumb is that you stay off private property unless you have permission from the owner. There's some places that are strictly off limits like airports for example. Common spots are along hiking trails or somewhere in a forest. If you're in a city then it's trickier but you can usually find caches in parks."

"Huh. How many... caches are there around here? I don't think you could spend an entire day searching for them." Fareeha commented before taking another bite.

The doctor turned her phone around and reached across the table so it was easier to see. Fareeha's jaw fell a few centimeters as she looked at the phone. Dozens, no hundreds of green dots decorated the screen.. "There's that many around here?" She blurted out in disbelief.

"Yep, and these are all ones I haven't found yet. Feel like looking for some with me?" Angela asked as she set her phone down on the table next to her plate.

"Sure I guess. Just give me time to finish eating then take a shower." Fareeha stabbed her fork into the eggs once again. "Hopefully I won't cramp up like the last time we went hiking."

"Well if you do then I can just rub them away like I did last time." Angela said with a teasing smile on her lips. Fareeha reddened and hurriedly shoved her fork into her mouth to spare herself having to respond. Angela chuckled once as she got back to eating her own breakfast.

After they had finished Angela was up and bustling about at her usual hectic pace while Fareeha started cleaning their dishes. By the time Fareeha was done Angela had assembled a small pile of bags and boxes near the door to the garage. Fareeha flicked water into the sink before grabbing towel and gave the pile a questioning look as she dried her hands off. "What's all of this?"

"Stuff we'll need for today." Angela said as she lifted the backpack up to double-check its contents. "Backup battery for my phone and a GPS unit just in case. Some snacks for when we're out and about. Spare clothes if we get wet, canteens, tick repellent." She pointed at a cooler still on the ground. "Would you rather I make some food to take with us or go out to eat after we're done looking for caches?"

Fareeha rubbed the back of her neck as she eyed the cooler. "Well if we're going to be running around in a forest or something then I guess we should bring some food with us to eat. I'll probably be all sweaty and gross by the time we're done. Let me go shower then I'll come help you make some stuff or did you already get some things ready?"

"I don't have anything yet but I was thinking about sandwiches." Angela said. "We can just throw the stuff we want into the cooler and make them when we get hungry. Is that all right with you, Fareeha?"

"Sure, that sounds fine. I'm going to go shower if you don't need any help then." Fareeha set the towel down before heading towards the stairs. When she got out of the shower Fareeha found the outfit Angela had bought for her last week neatly stacked outside of the bedroom door. Sweater, jacket, gloves, wool socks, pants. Everything but the boots. No doubt those were waiting down by the garage door.

As Fareeha entered the kitchen Angela stood up from the table and headed over to her pile of stuff and grabbed the cooler. "All right, let's load it up and get going!"

Fareeha grabbed the backpack with one hand and a clear plastic container in the other. The latter item had a sticker reading 'Geocaching Container' slapped onto its side. "Are you placing a container of your own, Angela?"

"Sure am. First time I've done this so I'm a little nervous. I have to find a good hiding spot, figure out what to name it, write a description and all that." Angela headed into the garage and opened her car door and set the cooler on the backseat. She took the backpack and container from Fareeha before putting them next to the cooler. "Okay let's go."

Once they were both in the car Angela toggled her garage door opener and in short order they were heading away from her house. "So where are we going?" Fareeha asked as she lowered the back of her chair.

"There's a hiking trail about forty kilometers from here. There's several caches already on it but its got a few paths without a cache on them. We'll have to check them out and see if they're any good." Angela leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes as the car zoomed along towards the destination she had entered.

Twenty minutes later and the car pulled off of the motorway before ending up in a decent sized parking lot already occupied by several other cars. Angela frowned a bit as she looked around. "More people here than I was expecting. Guess we have to keep an eye out for Muggles."

"Muggles? What does Harry Potter have to do with this?" Fareeha asked with a puzzled looking expression.

"Oh. Muggles is a term for people who don't do geocaching. One of the things about geocaching is that it can look pretty suspicious. People leaving mysterious objects in random places for no apparent reason."

"Like someone planting a bomb?"

"Exactly. There's a really old story about a cache left on the edge of an airport in Los Angeles. I couldn't find out if anyone was ever arrested but at least one geocacher was detained by the police. Other times the bomb squad gets called in and they blow the cache up So one of the really big rules is that you have to keep an eye out for muggles who don't know what you're doing and could get the wrong idea."

Angela turned and grabbed the backpack and container before getting out of the car. Fareeha hesitated before joining her. "So we could get in trouble for this? Is leaving a cache here okay?"

"It's fine. The people who maintain this trail actually have a couple of their own caches on it. They don't mind people leaving their own as long as they know about it. I sent them an email while you were in the shower to tell them I was going to put a cache out here." Angela tightened one of the straps on her backpack before she headed for the nearest trail.

The worn dirt path was lined on both sides by spindly white beech trees with branches turning green as the first leaves of spring were beginning to appear. The clouds that had covered the sky for the last few days had vanished and patches of blue were visible through the tree canopy. The doctor was a few steps ahead of Fareeha, her attention split between the phone in her hand and keeping an eye on the trail for any loose rocks or roots that could pose a hazard. After several minutes she stopped and turned to her right before pointing straight ahead.. "So this cache is somewhere around here. The hint doesn't make any sense to me. It says look in the spot where Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin hid. Do you have any idea what that means?"

Fareeha put a finger over her lips as she tried to keep herself from laughing as she looked around. The ground was flat on the trail's left side but it sloped downwards on its right towards a stream below where they were standing. "I do actually. It's a reference to a movie called Fellowship of the Ring."

"Okay then... give me a couple of minutes to look around before telling me." Angela said as she tucked her phone into her pocket. She moved to the edge of the trail and painstakingly descended the slope before sweeping her gaze back and forth in search of the cache. After several long minutes she muttered to herself and waved Fareeha down. "Okay give me a clue if you can."

"So in Fellowship of the Ring those characters are traveling through a forest and Frodo realizes a monster is coming so he tells them to hide. They get off the road and take shelter beneath a tree." Fareeha explained.

"Beneath a tree..." Angela repeated as she gave the area another look. "But they're hiding so they needed somewhere to stay out of sight... there!" She pointed at a depression beneath where some tree roots were poking out of the hillside. It was hard to spot but Fareeha could see an ammo canister that had been painted to mimic its surroundings tucked away beneath the roots so that people on the trail wouldn't be able to see it. Angela excitedly pulled it out and opened it up. "Let's see what we got."

She pulled out a plastic bag containing a few round objects as well as a small notepad and pencil. Angela opened the bag and pulled the pencil, notepad, and one of the coins out. Angela scrawled something on the notepad while Fareeha picked the baggy up and looked at its contents. "What are these?" Fareeha asked.

"It's a trackable." Angela replied as she turned her coin over. "People put them into a cache then later someone takes it out and carries it to another cache. The idea is to see where, and how far, it goes." She tapped on her phone briefly before holding her coin up higher. "This one started in Scotland, made its way into France before someone dropped it off here. Let's look at the others."

The second coin appeared relatively new and hadn't yet made it very far from where it had been dropped off. Fareeha's eyes widened when Angela giggled and held her phone up for Fareeha to see. A blue line connecting multiple dots came to a halt at their present location and it began in...

"Australia!?" Fareeha blurted out.

"Yep. All the way from Sydney. Person who placed it says they're hoping that it makes a full transit of the planet." Angela tucked the coin into her pocket and stood up. "I'm not going that far but I can take it back to Geneva." The doctor put the bag back into the container and placed it back where she had found it. "Ready for the next one?"

"After you, Angela."

That was one down, but Fareeha had a hunch there would be plenty more before the day was done.


	12. Systems

A familiar discordant buzz jolted Angela out of her slumber and she sat up with a groan. Angela's hand started to make its way towards the alarm clock purely out of habit but it hesitated halfway there. Her head turned as she looked down at the woman sleeping next to her. Fareeha was bundled up in her blanket just like the previous night and was still sound asleep. Angela's hand fell back to her side as she watched the other woman, curious to see how long it would take for the clock to rouse her.

At first nothing happened. Fareeha remained flat on her back, the sound seeming like it wasn't even reaching her ears. After an almost painful minute of shrill noises Fareeha sleepily muttered a single word. ''Noisy." She turned onto her side and pulled the blankets up over her head. Angela raised one eyebrow and she poked the misshapen mass roughly where she figured Fareeha's shoulder would be. Fareeha didn't react at all so Angela poked her again with the same outcome. The third time resulted in Fareeha rolling away from the doctor. "Stop it mom. I'm not gonna be late."

Angela smirked as she slid closer to Fareeha and began using both hands now. It was hard to tell exactly where she was poking Fareeha at first but after a bit she could feel ribs through the layers of fabric. Fareeha squirmed for a few seconds before sitting bolt upright. "Mom! I'm..." Her voice slowly trailed off as her surroundings began to sink in. "What is that noise? I was having such a weird dream."

"It's the alarm clock." Angela said as she reached over to turn it off.

"An alarm clock? Why are you using an alarm clock?" Fareeha asked incredulously. "We're basically on vacation. It's not like we have to get up at a certain time." She tossed the blanket aside and eased her way off the bed before rubbing the side of her leg. "I probably should have stretched after our hike yesterday or something. My legs feel pretty stiff."

"Oh? We could do some more yoga or I could give you a massage if you want, Fareeha." Angela offered.

Fareeha glanced back at Angela and the small hopeful smile on the doctor's lips before shaking her head. "Thank you but no, I think I just need to relax for the day and I should be fine tomorrow." She stretched her arms into the air as she headed towards the door.

"Okay I guess no plans for today..." Angela rubbed at her biceps and elbow as she looked around the room, suddenly looking as if she was lost.

Fareeha frowned at the change in the doctor's voice and she turned back around. "All right, I'll bite. What's bothering you, Angela?"

"Ever since we got here we've always had a plan for each day, something that we were going to do. It feels a little weird not having one now." Angela hesitated a moment as she looked at her record player. "I suppose I could read or listen to music but now I'm curious. What do you do during your free time? I know you like movies and you have your website but what else do you do?"

"I do watch a lot of movies." Fareeha admitted. "But other than that I've mostly been playing games since I got here to pass the time."

"What games? I've been playing chess against myself but it's always more interesting to play with other people."

"Oh no, not board games. Video games." Fareeha said while wiggling her thumbs as if using a controller. "I brought a gaming console with me and I've been playing them in my room when I'm not watching movies or doing something with you. If you want something to do then I could hook it up to your TV and we could play together."

"I'm not sure..." Angela began. "I've never bothered with video games before but you've gone hiking and geocaching with me because that's I wanted to do so I guess it's only far if I return the favor. You'll have to set it up though but not until we both get some food in us and take showers."

When Angela made it back downstairs Fareeha had already hooked her console up and the television was currently displaying the game's main menu. Once Angela had taken a seat on the couch Fareeha handed her a controller identical to the one she was holding. "So what kind of game is this?" Angela asked as she looked at the joysticks and all the different buttons on her controller.

"It's a puzzle platformer." Fareeha replied. "Every level in this game has keys that you need to collect in order to unlock some doors. Every level has a different layout and different obstacles that require you to use specific items to get to the end."

Angela's face brightened at that. "Oh that sounds fun. I was afraid you were going to make me play one of those shooting games and I don't like guns." She fiddled with the joysticks and pressed a few of her buttons. "How do we get started? Nothing's happening."

"That's because I'm player one." Fareeha said as she navigated through the game's opening menus. The screen transitioned from the lines of text to a large gallery of mugshots and a pair of models standing on pedestals beneath the gallery. "So here's all the different characters you can choose from. It doesn't matter what you pick since they all have the same hitbox. It's just a question of what your favorite skin is."

The models on display began changing as their cursors moved over the different thumbnails. Within seconds Fareeha had locked in a robot with an oversized rectangle for a head, a short torso, and stubby metal arms and legs. Angela took longer as she studiously looked at each of the characters in turn. "Ooh this one is cute." She had stopped on a creature with black fur on its back, white fur on its belly, a pair of legs barely discernible from its body and a pair of flippers.

"Do you like penguins, Angela?"

Angela bit her lip as she looked down at her controller. "How do I confirm this is the character I want to play? Penguins are cute, yes. The way they waddle around is adorable."

"Press X." Fareeha pointed at her controller to indicate which button she was referring to. Angela pressed the button and the television briefly displayed a loading screen before transitioning to the first level.

Fareeha's character began to move but came to a halt as the woman controlling it looked over at Angela. The doctor was mashing all the buttons on her controller and fiddling with her joysticks causing her penguin to move erratically in response. "Little help over here, Fareeha. I don't know what I'm doing." Angela said.

"Okay, here. That joystick is how you walk around. This button jumps, that button crouches, this button switches between items and that button lets you use the item you're holding."

"Do any of the other buttons do anything?" Angela asked as she looked at the ones Fareeha hadn't mentioned.

"Uhm, that one opens the emote menu."

Angela pressed the button in question and a wheel appeared on the screen with multiple options in it. She selected one out of curiosity and the penguin started waving. "Oh, he's waving hello. What other options are there?" Angela hit another one and her character began drumming his feet on the ground and waving his arms around. "Aww! He's doing a little dance!" Fareeha's robot moved closer to the penguin and started stiffly moving its arms up and down while rotating at the waist. Angela let out a snort. "Your robot is doing the robot."

"Yep. So I mentioned that you have to collect keys to beat a level." Fareeha pointed at the screen and the red key floating in the air. "There's two others but we can't see them yet. So you have to figure out how to get the red key before we can progress further through the level."

"Me!? Angela exclaimed. "What about you? You can help figure it out too."

"Ehhh... if you want me to give you hints then I will but I have all the levels in the campaign memorized so I know all the solutions already."

"Wait, what?" Angela frowned at Fareeha's answer. "If you already know how to beat the game then why do you still play it?"

"My goal isn't to beat the game, it's to beat it as quickly as possible. It's called speed-running."

"Speed-running? I've never heard of that before. Then again I don't play video games since I guess it's not really a surprise." Angela mused, almost to herself more than to Fareeha. "So do you just try to not make mistakes when you're playing the game or is there more to it than that?"

"Well the particulars vary from game to game but the gist of it is being able to find and exploit the game's programming to save time. Sometimes that means exploiting physics to gain speed or it might mean understanding enemy patterns and their weaknesses so you can beat them faster. Take a look at this." Fareeha's robot jumped up onto a platform above its head and moved over to stand next to where the wall joined with the roof forming a corner. It walked left towards the wall until it couldn't move any further before turning around and dropping a bomb to its right. The bomb flickered for a moment then exploded as Fareeha's character jumped into the ceiling and the robot shimmered before reappearing on the other side of the wall.

"Huh? What did you just do?" Angela asked as she stared at the television screen in confusion.

"It's kinda hard for me to explain since I don't fully understand the code that makes this happen. I just know that this trick works." Fareeha admitted. "When the bomb explodes it has a knockback effect. But I'm already against the wall and jumping into the ceiling so I don't have anywhere to go. The game tries to move me anyways which sends me inside the wall itself which is somewhere I'm not supposed to be so the game ends up putting me on the other side of the wall. At least that's how I understand it."

"So that's how you speedrun this game? By using bombs to move through walls?"

"Some of the time yes. That's just one trick though and there's a lot of others. I'm not trying to speedrun right now, I'm trying to play with you. Give me a second to reset the level and we can start over." Fareeha paused the game before selecting the restart option.

"How long do you think it'll take us to beat this game, Fareeha?"

"Hard to say. It takes me a couple of hours to run the game but there's no rush this time. We have all day, Angela." Fareeha gave the doctor an easy going smile before turning back towards the screen. "And I have more games in my library for when we get through this one if you're interested."

"Hmm, we'll see." Angela said as she started studying the level's layout. At least this would kill a few hours if nothing else.


	13. Stakes

When Fareeha's eyes fluttered open there was only a single sound in the room, the muted rumble of warm air exiting a duct. She turned her head to the side to see Angela lying on her side as she gazed at Fareeha. "Hey you." Fareeha murmured.

The corners of Angela's lips curled upwards and she leaned forward to kiss Fareeha's forehead. "Good morning. Do you want me to make breakfast today?"

Fareeha looked up for a moment before shaking her head a bit. "No, not yet." She lifted up the edge of her blanket and beckoned with one finger. "Come here, I want to cuddle." The doctor's smile widened and she scooted out from under her blanket to join Fareeha beneath the other blanket. She dropped her head onto a bronze shoulder and wrapped her arms around Fareeha's waist.

"You know, I don't think I've ever told you how beautiful you are, Fareeha." Angela said as one of her hands drifted lower.

Fareeha shivered involuntarily as Angela's hand settled down on the small of her back. They had been sharing a bed for a few nights now but both of them had kept to their side of the bed until now. She reached back and put one hand on that wrist and moved it lower until it was squarely resting on one of her cheeks. Angela's face immediately turned a bright shade of red but she didn't pull her hand away. "Oh? And how beautiful am I?" Fareeha asked as she gazed into a pair of blue eyes that were looking back at her.

A long moment passed as they continued to gaze at each other before Angela looked away briefly before meeting Fareeha's eyes again. "I don't really know how to describe you, Fareeha. If I was a poet or a writer then I'd know the right words to use but I'm not. When I walked into that room for my first session I thought I was lucky to see such a gorgeous person waiting for me. You're just... perfect. Your hair, your eyes, everything. I keep looking at you trying to find a flaw and I've never seen one. But it's not just your looks. At first I thought you were incredibly sexy but now that I'm getting to know you I realized I was wrong."

Fareeha's brow started to furrow but Angela was quick to explain what she had meant. "You're intelligent, kind, caring, _and_ incredibly sexy. I thought I was lucky then but now I know I've hit the jackpot, Fareeha Amari." She stretched her head up and gently brushed her lips against the underside of Fareeha's chin. "You also have a great butt."

A dry chuckle came from Fareeha as Angela's fingers squeezed her cheek to drive the point home. "Mmmm... good to know you like it. I think I need to take my great butt to the shower though. How about you make breakfast and I'll make lunch for us."

"It's a deal." Angela said before giving another squeeze and reluctantly letting go. "Do you feel like doing a session today, Fareeha?"

"I'll think about it." Fareeha said as she pushed her sheets aside and stood up. "I actually want to go out today. Have you ever gone bowling Angela?"

Angela pushed herself up onto her elbow as she looked up at Fareeha. "Bowling? I have but it's been a few years and I was never very good at it. You want to go bowling?" Fareeha nodded and Angela rubbed her chin for a moment. "I guess we can do that. When would you want to leave?"

"Hmm, I'll have to find a good place but I guess sometime in the evening? I'll let you know." With that Fareeha was heading out the door and towards her bathroom to take that shower.

Afterwards Fareeha unzipped a small container that she hadn't needed until now and pulled several items out and set them on the counter in front of her. Fareeha unscrewed the lid of a round container and swirled her shaving brush in it until it had gathered enough of the container's contents. She dragged the brush up and down along her leg until it was covered in the white cream before setting the brush aside. Next Fareeha took a steel safety razor and carefully drew it along her leg from ankle to knee in several short strokes. Every couple of passes she would dunk the razor in a cup of water and swish it around until it was clean. Once she had finished shaving her first leg she moved onto the other followed by the back of her neck along with some stray hairs on her stomach as well. Fareeha set the razor down and stood up as she slid her briefs off before looking at herself in the mirror.

It had been several months since she had felt the need to do anything with this particular area though it wasn't as bad as it could have been. It still needed some work however. Fareeha took a deep breath before picking up a pair of scissors. "This better be worth it." Fareeha muttered to herself as she got started.

By the time Fareeha made it downstairs Angela was standing in front of the sink as she scrubbed a thin layer of grease off a plate in her hands. She turned and waved at the dining room table. "There's some rosti for you on the table but it might be a bit cold by now."

Fareeha pulled her chair out from the table and sat down. "I did some searching and there's a place with good ratings about twenty kilometers from here. Is that all right with you?"

"Sure, that sounds fine with me." Angela replied as she started scrubbing the plate again. "What time do you want to leave?"

"Mmmm... how about at eleven?" Fareeha asked while picking up her fork. "This alley has a small kitchen so we can order some snacks and drinks while we're there. Nothing fancy but it's good enough for lunch."

"That soon?"

"Yep. I figure if we go earlier in the game then we'll avoid the evening rush and we won't have to worry about being able to get a lane."

Eleven. That would give Angela plenty of time time to take a shower, but not enough to do the laundry she had accumulated over the last two weeks. "All right, I'll see you at eleven then." Angela said as she began to dry off the plate in her hands.

When the time to leave came around Angela trudged down the stairs to find Fareeha waiting downstairs for her. Fareeha raised an eyebrow at the sight of what Angela was holding. "What's with the socks?"

"Well we have to rent shoes that other people have used and I don't know how well this place cleans their shoes. Bringing an extra pair of socks will help keep any germs from getting into my shoes." Angela explained as she wrapped the socks into a small bag and shoved the bag into one of her coat pockets.

"All right then..." Fareeha said before heading out into the garage, Angela a few steps behind her.

Fifteen minutes later and Angela's car was pulling into the parking lot of the bowling alley. A man and woman had just exited the building's front doors as the vehicle came to a halt in one of the parking spots. The couple didn't give the car a second glance but the woman came to a halt and did a double-take as the car's owner walked by and into the bowling alley. Fareeha covered her mouth to hide a slight grin and she leaned towards Angela to whisper into her ear. "I think she recognized the famous Doctor Ziegler."

"Quiet you." Angela said half-heartedly as she pulled out her maestro card before approaching the counter. A minute later and they were heading for a bowling lane at the far side of the building, shoes and menu in hand. Fareeha set her shoes down as she headed for a nearby rack holding spheres of various colors. "You know, I've never understood why bowling balls don't use the metric system." Angela said as she looked for a ball whose holes weren't too large or too small for her fingers. "I should look it up sometime."

After a minute the two of them had found a bowling ball that suited them and another passed as they put the bowling shoes on, Angela taking longer since she was putting on the other pair of socks. Fareeha tapped their names in and the first game began. "So we got three games. How about we make this a little more interesting?" Fareeha suggested with an almost mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"How?"

Fareeha leaned closer to Angela to make sure no one could overhear her whispering. "If you win two of three then we'll do a session where I use a strapon tonight. If I win then you let me use that hot tub of yours tonight."

Angela nervously glanced over her shoulder but the next lane over was empty and the group past that looked too occupied with their game, and too far away, to overhear what Fareeha had just said. "If you want to use my tub then all you have to do is ask. Maybe there's something else you'd want if you win?"

"Hmm..." Fareeha tapped her finger on her chin as she considered what else to ask for. "How about you also give me a massage if I win then?"

"Sounds like I get a good deal win or lose." Angela pointed out. "Too bad I don't own that bench we were looking at but I'm sure you'll figure something out after I beat you." Angela stood up and walked to the first arrows before rolling her ball down the lane towards the pins at the other end. It struck a few on one side and ended up knocking half of them over. Her next roll only hit one pin this time and it was Fareeha's turn.

Instead of getting up Fareeha was looking at the menu. "What do you say to nachos, Angela?"

"That sounds fine with me." Angela said as she sat down next to Fareeha. "Bowling and nachos here then... you know what later."

Fareeha didn't respond as she got up and lifted her bowling ball in front of her before drawing her arm back and sending it hurtling straight down the middle of the lane. All ten pins fell down and Fareeha grinned at Angela as she returned to her seat. "Your turn."

The doctor knocked down seven pins with her next two rules and then Fareeha was up again. This time she knocked down eight pins with her first roll then two more the second time for a spare. "You're definitely off to a good start. I think I might be in trouble now." Angela remarked as she headed to collect her bowling ball.

"Maybe, but you're going to come out ahead win or lose." Fareeha replied as she watched Angela send the ball down the lane once more.

As Angela returned to her seat she couldn't help but agree. Win and Fareeha would be using a strapon on her. Lose and she got to give her girlfriend a massage. Either way she had something to look forward to tonight.

The only question was which one it would be.


	14. Bounty

Angela lost each of the three games and only the third game had been close. Not that it mattered since the wager had been decided by then. Angela didn't really mind though. The game had been fun and she had something to look forward to. Being able to touch the other woman sitting in the car since she now owed Fareeha a massage as well as letting her use the hot tub in Angela's bathroom.

"So about this favor I owe you. When do you want to do it?" Angela asked.

Fareeha had been staring out of the window and for a moment Angela began to think that her question hadn't been heard. "Hmm... I'll let you know. Right now I feel like getting in that hot tub of yours. How about you fill it up for me as soon as we get back?"

"Sure, if that's what you want. But how hot do you want the water to be, Fareeha?"

Fareeha turned her head away from the windows towards Angela and it almost seemed like she was considering something before answering. "Umm, how about you make it as hot as you want it to be and I'll tell you if its too much."

That wasn't much of an answer but it did seem to indicate Fareeha had some faith in Angela's judgement at the very least. When she finished parking her car in the garage Angela started heading towards the stairs heading up but instead of following her Fareeha disappeared towards the front door. Angela hesitated on the first step before shrugging and heading up to her bathroom.

She sat down next to the tub and turned the levers controlling the quantity of hot and cold water pouring out of the faucet. From time to time she ran her fingers under the faucet or dipped a finger in the water steadily rising up the walls of the tub. It wasn't quite as warm as she normally would have made it but it was better for the water to be on the colder side instead of being too hot when Fareeha got in. When the water was three fourths of the way full she turned the levers to shut the faucet off. Just as Angela began to stand up she heard the sound of a door shutting and she turned to look over her shoulder.

A white bathrobe clad Fareeha was standing in front of the now closed bathroom door, towel in hand. She glanced at the tub and gave Angela a smile that almost seemed... shaky. "So how's the water?"

"I think it's fine, but you'll have to try it yourself." Angela stood up and began heading for the door, intending to leave the rest for Fareeha. Before she got halfway to the door Fareeha was moving towards her and grabbing a hold of her wrist.

"Don't go."

Angela looked down at their hands then up to meet Fareeha's gaze. "What?"

Fareeha tossed the towel onto the ledge next to the counter and she took two steps back while letting go of Angela's arm. She undid the loose knot holding her bathrobe closed and slipped her arms free of the sleeves, the garment falling down around her feet. "I want you to stay. With me."

Angela had seen a picture of Fareeha not wearing any clothes once before but that had only been pixels on a screen. The real thing was entirely something else altogether. Tresses of jet black hair cascading down over olive shoulders, generous round breasts, a neatly trimmed rectangle of hair down there, and dark brown eyes that were undeniably anxious. Angela glanced over her shoulder at the tub behind them before she realized what was going on here.

Fareeha had suggested they go bowling plus she had been the one to suggest a wager along with its terms. A dip in the hot tub... and a massage. She had asked Angela to fill the tub and set the temperature to what _she_ wanted. Angela looked back at the waiting Fareeha before grabbing her shirt and pulling it off. A split second later and Fareeha was there, her hands reaching behind Angela's back to undo her bra. Pulling off the rest of her clothes couldn't have taken more than a few seconds but even that felt too long for Angela.

Once her clothes were _finally_ off Angela slowly lowered one foot into the tub as she took her time adjusting to the warmth before bringing her other leg to join it. She moved to the far side of the tub and lowered herself until she was seated and the water was almost at shoulder height. Fareeha then stepped forward and entered the tub without any hesitation, the water seeming not to affect her in the slightest "Are you sure about this, Fareeha?" Angela asked softly. "I'm willing to do this but only if you say you're okay with it."

Fareeha moved forward across the tub until she was standing just in front of Angela. She turned around and sat down on the other woman's lap. Fareeha leaned back until she was resting against Angela's chest and she dropped her head back onto one white shoulder. "Yes." She softly breathed, as if speaking too loudly would somehow make Angela change her mind.

The last two weeks had been about Angela. The ropes, the vibrators, her ride on the sybian and everything else had been activities for her pleasure. Until now. Now she was being given the chance to repay the favor for all that Fareeha had given her.

Angela's hands rose up almost to the surface of the water and settled themselves on either side of Fareeha's neck. Her fingers began pressing into the muscles around the collarbone, gradually making their way outwards towards the shoulders. Fareeha murmured softly and she pressed herself back a little harder against Angela then before. Angela giggled and shook her head. "You keep doing that and I won't be able to massage your back."

Fareeha shrugged as in dismissal but her words betrayed her intention. "Well then you'll just have to massage my front instead."

"Oh? And where might that be?" Angela asked. Her hands left Fareeha's shoulders and dived lower to take a breast in each hand and squeezed. "Here?" A soft moan was her answer and Angela smiled. During their sessions together it had always been Angela crying out, her voice filling the air with lewd noises. Now it was Fareeha's turn to utter wordless exclamations and the very first one Angela had elicited was a sweeter sound than she had ever heard. A shiver of excitement ran through Angela and she began to nibble the soft skin of Fareeha's neck while squeezing those breasts a second time wanting to hear it again.

More moans followed the first as Angela eagerly continued her ministrations and soon enough Fareeha was reaching up to grab one hand and pull it away. Angela's other hand came to a halt as she waited to see what Fareeha had in mind. Their hands sank even lower beneath the water until Angela found her hand brushing against a slick strip of hair as Fareeha carefully positioned the doctor's fingertips. "There."

Angela's mouth descended onto Fareeha's shoulder as her hands started to move again. The fingers on her left hand continued to squeeze and release Fareeha's breast while Angela's other hand slowly moved in circles over Fareeha's clit. Fareeha's hands tightened on Angela's wrists and her head turned to the side as her moans grew more ragged. Encouraged by the change in tempo both of Angela's hands started to move faster which in turn only made Fareeha's groans even louder.

The two continued to spur each other on until Fareeha began trembling. Angela wrapped her arms around Fareeha's waist and chest, tightly holding her close as the woman orgasmed. As Fareeha shuddered ripples appeared on the water's surface, racing out to the far side and rebounding back towards the two women. When Fareeha's shudders came to a halt she turned around so she was face to face with Angela. She cupped the blonde's cheeks in her hands as she rained kisses all over Angela's lips and every other spot on Angela's face that she could reach.

"Thank you." Fareeha eventually murmured. "This was a good part one."

Angela slid her arms behind Fareeha, one hand cupping a hip and the other pressing against the middle of Fareeha's back. "Part one? Does that mean there's a part two?"

Fareeha's eyes flicked towards the bathroom door. "There's a strapon waiting on your bed." Angela started to open her mouth but Fareeha put a finger to Angela's lips. "It's not for you, at least not today. It's for me but I need to explain something first so you understand what this means to me. When I first got into bondage it only took part of a session for me to realize that I'm a top. Ever since then I've been doing things to other people. Occasionally my bottoms were willing to try and pleasure me back but I had limits to what I would let them do. Some petting or maybe a vibrator but never any further than that." Fareeha closed her eyes and shook her head suddenly. "What I'm trying to say is that I've never let another person penetrate me in any way. I've never felt comfortable with letting someone do that to me until now."

"So..." Angela began but Fareeha cut her off.

"So I want _you_ to use that strapon to fuck me." Fareeha stated emphatically but her eyes flicked away and her shoulders hunched as the moment of bravado passed. "That is... if you're willing to."

For a moment Angela didn't respond as a whirlwind of thoughts raced through her mind. During their sessions Fareeha had always seemed utterly confident in herself. Whether it was tying Angela up or using a Wartenberg wheel, Fareeha had been composed and shown a skilled and practiced hand. But now? Now Angela wasn't seeing the dominatrix who had honed her craft over years of experience on paying customers. In front of Angela was a woman who was opening up to someone she cared for and worried about it backfiring. Afraid of being rejected now that it was a possibility.

Angela reached up to put a hand on Fareeha's cheek and immediately Fareeha was leaning into it. "I'd love to do that for you, Fareeha. Just promise me that you'll return the favor sometime. Maybe with some ropes too." Angela added with a tiny grin.

Getting out of the tub and toweling each other off didn't take very long though their hair was still sticking to their necks and shoulders as they entered the bedroom. A thin round length of purple silicone jutted out from a black harness made of leather straps and metal rings lay in the middle of the bed. Next to it was a small jar of lubricant. Angela grabbed the harness and fiddled with the straps for a moment before figuring out how to put it on. She cinched it down onto her hips and turned to give Fareeha an encouraging smile.

Fareeha handed the jar to Angela before lying down on her back and spreading her knees. Angela crawled forward on the bed so that she was in the middle of those legs. Fareeha swallowed as she watched the doctor's approach. They hadn't even gotten to the interesting part yet but the sight of Angela wearing a harness was making Fareeha's body even warmer than the hot tub had. She smiled nervously while running one finger along a leather strap. "I don't know what the best position for us will be but I want to be looking at you when you put it in me the first time, Angela."

Angela unscrewed the jar's lid bottle and scooped some of its contents out before smearing it onto the dildo. Her hand ran up and down its length until it was evenly coated and looked ready for use. Angela grabbed another scoop but this time her hand went to the center of Fareeha's legs. She wiped it off in the middle then came back with a single finger. She was tempted to rush through this part but Angela forced herself to take her time and make sure the lubricant was applied correctly. In fact she was unnecessarily careful about it, her finger double and triple checking that every bit of Fareeha's sex had been covered. "Are you ready, Fareeha?"

"Yes... just go slow. It's my first time with a strap-on after all." Angela lifted an eyebrow and Fareeha looked back at her with a stern look. Then Fareeha's lips were twitching and in seconds the mask had cracked and she was laughing. Angela just shook her head though she was beginning to giggle as well. The doctor dropped her head onto Fareeha's shoulder as the two of them continued to laugh. It took a minute or so for them to stop and Angela looked up to see a look of resolve in Fareeha's eyes.

She pushed herself up with one hand while using the other to aim the dildo. It paused at Fareeha's entrance before Angela's hips pressed forward and the rounded tip slid inside. Progress was slow going as Angela only moved her hips forward a few millimeters at a time. She kept her eyes locked on Fareeha's face, looking for any signs of pain or discomfort that would tell her to stop. At the same time Fareeha was looking back up at her with lips parting ever so slightly as the toy went deeper into her.

When the toy was halfway into her Fareeha reached up to brush her fingers against Angela's face. "You're doing wonderful, Angela. It doesn't hurt at all and you can go faster if you want to." Fareeha said as she wrapped her legs around Angela and crossed her ankles.

Feeling encouraged by Fareeha's words Angela increased the pace. She continued to push this time and soon enough their hips were pressing against each other. Fareeha's lips parted even further and she shivered. So many years being on the opposite side of a strapon and now she was the one being penetrated. She could feel every centimeter of the toy inside of her. Its inner core was firm but the outer parts of it were flexible and soft against her canal. While thin it still had enough girth to stretch her although just barely. Fareeha took a deep breath and grinned up at Angela. "This is nice, but I think it can be better. Pull it out and let me get into a different position."

Once Angela had obliged her Fareeha rolled over and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Behind her she could hear the sheets rustling as Angela positioned herself. A pair of warm hands grabbed a hold of her hips for leverage. At the same time the dildo pressed against her lips before pushing between them and all the way into her once again. An involuntary groan left Fareeha's mouth as part of it was withdrawn then pushed back in as Angela began to settle into a rhythm."Is this all right, Fareeha? Do you want me to go faster?"

"Ahhh... no... this is... good." Fareeha forced out between thrusts. They weren't fast but each thrust ended with the dildo completely inside her before being pulled almost all the way back out. As they continued Fareeha pushed everything else out of her mind. Nothing outside of this room was of any concern. The only things that mattered was the here and now. This woman kneeling behind her, those hands on her hips, and the silicone toy connecting the two of them. As the doctor's methodical thrusts continued a heat was raging outwards from a place deep inside of her that she hadn't been aware of until now. It was beyond anything she had felt before. None of her nights at home with a pair of fingers and a glass of wine or those rare days at work where she let someone use a tongue on the hole now occupied by Angela's dildo could compare. Fareeha's head sank towards the mattress and she began panting. Her eyes squeezed shut of their own accord as her head tipped backed and her back arched. She thrust herself back against Angela's latest thrust, her entire body tensing for an instant and then she slowly lowered herself towards the mattress with unsteady limbs. The strapon slipped out of her and Fareeha lay still for several long seconds before slowly rolling over. Her chest rose and fell as she took deep breaths and liquid began rolling down her cheeks.

"Are you all right, Fareeha?" Angela anxiously asked, a little alarmed by the sight of those tears.

Fareeha brushed at her cheek and turned her hand over to see dampness on her fingertips. "I'm okay, Angela. I'm not crying because I'm sad or in pain. I'm _happy_. It's been so long since I've had a partner who cared about _me_ that I'd forgotten what it was like." She pushed herself up with a still shaky arm and grabbed a hold of Angela's neck. Fareeha kissed Angela on the lips then sagged back down to the mattress, bringing Angela with her. She ensnared the doctor's torso in her arms while burying her cheek against a white shoulder.

During her years working as a dominatrix Fareeha had 'serviced' hundreds of clients. Said service varied from one client to the next but there had always been a common element in every single session she had been involved with. The boundaries that she set to avoid becoming entangled with the men and women who came to see her. From time to time one of her clients would get ideas and attempt to challenge those boundaries but they had remained resolute all these years. Until now.

It had only taken Angela Ziegler a mere week to seemingly effortlessly pierce through those boundaries and into her heart. A second week was all they needed to become lovers. She had no idea what was going to happen in the two weeks they still had remaining in their oasis but Fareeha Amari was ready to find out.

* * *

 _So this is the end of Realignment. If you made it this far thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it._


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